Welcome to Wonderland
by BrokenWings66
Summary: In a world where power comes with a price, only those who have truly experienced tragedy are granted otherworldly powers. Welcome to Teiko Asylum of the Specially Gifted and Mentally Insane. Akakuro.
1. Prologue

There always is that strange longing I get if I stay away from it for too long. My heart seems to pump even slower than it already does and my mind always seems to wander to the land beneath the rabbit hole.

You want to know who I am? Well, I could tell you now, but I think I'll wait a bit later. It's been _years_ since I've had someone to talk to. Let's make this a game.

If you are able to tell me who I am by the end on the story, then I will let you leave. Until then, you will forever be stuck in here with me.

* * *

Kuroko Tetsuya was by no means loud. Nothing about him screamed attention that so many human beings seem to crave. He had a faint presence, making him invisible to most, soft yet blank features that didn't make his appearance stand out. Pale blue eyes and hair that seemed to fade the more you looked at them and a quiet and introverted personality sealed the deal.

And the boy liked it that way. He preferred not to be in crowds or have everyone's attention. He liked fading into the background while no one notices him. Or at least that's what he tells himself every day, once before breakfast, twice before lunch and once again before and after dinner. Why he would go to such lengths to convince himself, we shall never know, but what we do, is that Kuroko is very shy, but also very lonely. Because no one notices him, he has no one to confide in, no one to make him laugh, no one to make him smile, no one to tell him that he isn't just a ghost that no one cares about and ignores.

After trying to make a friend for years, he finally gave up. Accepting that no one can notice him, Kuroko stopped trying to get people to notice him. His life slowly faded to grey as the once vibrant colors of the world slowly melted away into nothing.

And no one knew.

No one cared.

The boy stayed in his large room, ignored even by his own family. No one seemed to have the time for him or was willingly to give their time for him.

I suppose that was when he finally began to fall.

* * *

**Thank you to Akasuki Fatale and clarit for pointing out the formatting problem. I don't know what happened, but hopefully it won't happen again!**

**-BrokenWings66**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**LOCATION: EDEN (REALM #2)**

The stars stared down at the boy from their high perch in the alluring darkness of the night sky. They glistened and glowed, little lights dancing across the sky, creating forms if you looked close enough. The waves lapped quietly against the rocks and shore, providing a lullaby of their own as the boy floated upon the water's surface. Eyes closed and cerulean hair glowing in the starlight, the boy's body gently rocked with the waves, his arms and legs at his side just beneath the water's surface.

The night was calm and occasionally a cloud would pass by and lay witness to the peculiar sight of a boy floating aimlessly in the warm, glowing sea. Bioluminescent organisms littered the ocean's surface like little glowing spots, creating a second sky. The two skies observed the sleeping boy, the stars from above and the sea surrounding him.

Gentle snores escaped his mouth as his body continued to rock with the waves. He never stirred an inch, unbothered by the glowing sea and gleaming sky. His body was covered only by long shorts that were thoroughly soaked, but not seeming to weigh his legs down. His pale skin seemed ethereal in the starlight; flawless and speckled with droplets of water which glistened like pearls from a mermaid. His long cerulean lashes defined his closed eyes and his pink lips were moist from the water. Two small pearls rested on each of his ears, held in place by a metal clasp in the back. One could easily mistake the boy for an otherworldly being.

The sea and sky were extremely curious, but wary of their actions. They didn't wish to wake the mysterious boy.

This wasn't the first time they had seen him here. He constantly came to this very beach and swam in the waters during the day and created a small fire and roasted fish at night. After putting the fire out, the boy would go for a late night swim and eventually begin to drift to sleep. Sometimes he slept on the shore, but more times than not, his eyes closed whilst at sea.

The sea and sky always watched over the boy. The sky was careful to never burn the boy during the day and dazzles him with the sight of the stars every night. The sea made sure no storms brewed while the boy was there and made sure he never drowned when he fell asleep or was swimming. Though they weren't aware of it, the sky and sea were very fond of the boy and found the greatest of joys while watching him going about whenever he visited. They were beings that have been present since the beginning, and they find few solaces in their eternal existence.

The boy enjoyed reading the story the stars danced for him every night while the ocean sang him a soft lullaby and rocked him to sleep. Though they weren't completely aware of their fondness of the boy, they knew that once his time came, they would be alone once again. None of this world's inhabitants could ever be as special to the sea and sky as the boy was to them. But they did not worry of those times. It was still a long time away.

Before either of them knew it, the sun had begun to wake and was stretching his rays along the horizon. The sea and sky knew they only had a few hours before the boy woke, so the sea placed a kiss upon the boy's cheek and the sky blew him a kiss from the heavens. The stars twinkled and bid their farewells as one by one they disappeared, replaced by light blue.

The sea carried the boy over to a soft seabed and kissed his cheek once more before receding back to the endless expanse of ocean. From a distance, the sea and sky waited as the sun began his rise into the sky and watched as the boy slowly arose from his deep slumber.

He sat up and yawned, stretching his limbs a little. He remained in a still position for a few minutes before slowly standing up and making his way onto shore.

Pale blue eyes stared at the blue morning sky and calm ocean, his face emotionless. He bowed and the sea and sky smiled. He always did this after he woke up every morning.

"Thank you for keeping me safe throughout the night."

He straightened up and turned to pick up his plastic bucket and shovel from the sand. His sandcastle laid as proof of his work as the boy walked to the ocean and rinsed his toys. Once pleased, the boy calmly walked away from the beach and into the foliage in the background. He made his way through the plants and trees, leaves wet from the morning dew and the air humming with early morning life.

He let his feet lead him to his destination while he continued to wake his mind from its drowsiness. Soon, the boy reached a cliff and without hesitation walked to its edge.

He murmured a few words and the empty space in front of him seemed to distort and eventually rip. Beyond the rip laid darkness, but the boy bravely walked forward, and the rip closed behind him. Only his wet footprints remained, and they too soon disappeared from the heat of the afternoon sun.

**LOCATION: EARTH (DEFAULT REALM)**

Kuroko calmly walked through the portal and stepped onto the cold floor of his room. He placed his sand toys by the window to dry and grabbed a towel and some clean clothes. Slowly, he opened his bedroom door and tiptoed through the hallway, careful not to wake anyone up. He soon made it to the male washroom and placed his clothes in his locker. He walked over to the showers and slid into one of the stalls.

He turned on the water and let it wash away the salt and sand from his body. Raising the temperature, Kuroko slipped off his swimming trunks and hung it off the side stall wall.

Grabbing the bottle of shampoo, he began to lather his hair and let his thoughts wander. It's been a while since he had last visited Eden. He almost forgot how pleasant it was to sleep just floating in the ocean, the water warm from the day's sunlight and the stars and water glowing with natural light. When he created the world, he based it off the paradise God created. Lush foliage and beautiful beaches dotted the coast while long plains of grass stretched for miles and stunning forests overtook the mainland. He put mountains near the west coast to mimic the mountains of Seirin and endless deserts in the Middle East to mimic the great desert of Touou. The vast Tokyo and Hokkaido oceans covered most of the world, the rest either covered by smaller seas and land.

It offered the perfect relaxing atmosphere. It has been in existence for ten billion years, so there were organisms roaming the planet, including humans. Kuroko had created Eden a few weeks before he moved to the asylum, after he stumbled across a bible in an alleyway. He read it, and decided to make a similar paradise, except this time, no forbidden fruit or tree and talking serpent.

When the humans finally established some sort of community a few ten thousand years ago, he made sure to keep gender discrimination to a minimum. Now the human civilization living in Eden was very much like the original humans from Earth, just with a few differences in behaviour towards each other and how they treated their surrounding environment.

For example, homosexual relationships were never seen as strange at all. Kuroko made sure that problems about the same gender loving the same gender was never thought poorly of (the fact that Kuroko was gay probably influenced that choice, but that's not important. Yet). Also, the humans of Eden were wary of all the ecosystems surrounding them, even the ones they themselves live in. They were careful not to cause too much pollution and keep their living area clean.

Now if only that could be applied to the industrial city of Teiko.

Oh, well, he thought. There's a reason he preferred his fabricated worlds to the real one.

Once clean, Kuroko turned off the shower, grabbed his wet but clean swimming trunks and dried himself off. Snuggling on his trousers and ivory button up, tucking it in and rolling the sleeves to his elbows, Kuroko strapped on his suspenders and walked out of the bathroom. He let his wet hair dry naturally, not bothering to comb it because it usually never helps with his naturally messy hair. It took him ten minutes at least until the stubborn strands stayed the way they were supposed to with a comb, and Kuroko was feeling lazy today.

_Maybe I'll drop by Daedalus later today, _thought the blunette as he dropped by his room and placed his wet swim suit on the clothing line outside his window. He closed the window and looked over his shoulder to get a glimpse of the time.

_7:26_.

Seeing how there was still over an hour before breakfast, Kuroko grabbed an empty knapsack and disappeared into a portal.

**xxxxxxx**

Kuroko emerged from the portal once again wearing peculiar looking clothes, re-entering his bedroom, no longer silent with the soft bustling outside his door.

His once empty knapsack was now filled to the brim with books. The blunette struggled to carry the bag because of its weight, but managed to lug it over into a corner and somewhat gently place it down onto the floor.

Exhausted, Kuroko slumped to the ground and took some deep breaths. He was once again thankful that he decided to change the time flow of Daedalus. He spent three hours in the library finding books to read. Daedalus was a world Kuroko created based off intellect. It was a world full of advance science and technology. Their scholars were highly intelligent and their technology was centuries ahead of Earth.

The Daedaluns were people naturally gifted with great intellect and wisdom. There were those who were not up to the standard intelligence, but they always made up for it in one form or another, such as creativity and imagination. It was those people who wrote the most amazing novels.

There was no such thing as a poorly written or bad book in Daedalus, but there were ones more fantastic than others.

Their endless library always brought a gleam to Kuroko's eyes, for they loved no more than to read a story and form the scenes within the mind, creating a play. Because he was always going off to Daedalus for books and to expand his knowledge, Kuroko rarely read books written on Earth. Occasionally there would be a book that could just barely keep up to Kuroko's now Daedalun-high expectation, but they never came often.

Lifting his wrist, Kuroko pressed a button on the neon blue wristband he was wearing and his clothes, currently consisting of a pale green high collar vest, the collar wide and stopping just below Kuroko's chin, zipped up to the top and it stopped just before Kuroko's belly button. Beneath the vest, Kuroko wore a fishnet tank top that (not really) covered the space of skin shown from the vest to the black shorts that hung loosely around Kuroko's hips. Thick and fat white shoes rested on his feet.

Immediately, those clothes were replaced with the outfit he put on after his shower. Standing up, Kuroko brushed off non-existent dust from his trousers and grabbed his brown plaid waistcoat. He walked to his door and entered the hallway, silently merging with the rushing bodies of all of the other teenagers. Technically, Kuroko turned 18 a few months ago, but he liked his room and did not wish to move rooms into the adult ward.

He continued down the homey hallway, the walls lined with light green wallpaper, white plant-like designs crawling over the green base. The windows let in the rays of the morning sun and Kuroko took a moment to bask in the sunlight. Nobody noticed the blunette and continued rushing by, as if there was no one there. But that was to be expected. The boy had been born with a low presence, therefore making him to notice. Occasionally, he would appear in a person's peripheral vision, but people usually brushed it off as a trick of the light.

Or dark.

At first, Kuroko hated his low-presence. For when people finally realized he was there, they would scream ghost, spirit, phantom, demon…. The list goes on. And in the end, they never seem to notice him afterwards. But recently, Kuroko has been finding it more useful rather than unbearable. He could go anywhere and no one would stop him and he could easily slip out without anyone noticing his disappearance.

He turned at the end of the hallway and continued down a corridor, made a few more turns before he finally reached the pretty white French doors that led to the mess hall.

Sighing, Kuroko opened the double doors and stepped into the noisy space. He eased by people, carefully weaving through the crowds until he finally reached the cafeteria line. He grabbed a blank grey tray and placed a solid plastic plate. He selected what he felt like eating for breakfast and placed it on his plate. It just barely took up ¼ of the empty plate. Also grabbing an apple and small carton of milk, Kuroko placed his tray on the weighing machine, the lady behind it not seeing him. He patiently waited a few seconds for it to stay on one measurement and price before swiping the card he kept secure in his pocket and removing the tray. The lady, already used to Kuroko's lack of presence simply smiled at where she assumed he'd be and said a cheery good morning.

Kuroko, being the polite boy he was, returned the greeting before leaving to find a table. While looking for a table, Kuroko passed by rows and rows of full and noisy tables, boys and girls of all ages piling on the seats, laughing, talking and eating. There was suddenly a `pop` and an object whizzed by Kuroko's face. He stopped in his tracks, his widen eyes the only indication of his surprised from the object. Had he been a few more steps forward, the object would've found a new home in his head.

But as expected, no one knew he was there, despite being right in front of them and how close they had been to killing him. Instead, everyone threw their heads and laughed and cheered. Kuroko collected his breath and continued forward.

"Tetsuya."

Kuroko halted when he heard his name spoken. Turning his head in the direction of the voice, pale aquamarine eyes met blazing gold red.

"Akashi-kun." curtly said Kuroko.

The redhead smiled at the blunette. "Would you like to have breakfast with us?"

No, Kuroko would not.

Akashi Seijuurou, a boy with miss-matching eyes. He was older than Kuroko and only a few inches taller. He had been at the asylum when Kuroko arrived, and they weren't exactly close enough to discuss deeply personal facts such as when he came to the asylum, so Kuroko wasn't sure how long he's been in this place. Some have been here as soon as they first awaken their power, while others come years later.

Akashi was known for being cruel and cold, a strict person who enjoyed winning. It was also said and proved that Akashi relinquishes the fact that he is a majority of the time correct. In fact, make that all the time. Everyone in the asylum had yet to see a day where Akashi was wrong.

The fiery redhead had the powers of foresight and the rare gift of yet another power, being a pyrokinetic, or fire bender. With his two powers, people never defied him, and even if he had only one power, Kuroko doubted that would've changed anything. Akashi was probably the most terrifying person in the whole world. He could make your blood freeze to ice and your legs weak with a simple glance. He also had a tendency to carry around red scissors that he made sure to sharpen in the most public of places every day to let people know he was always armed.

And Kuroko had the biggest crush on him.

Kuroko, not a naïve person, understood that the probability or Akashi being gay was less likely than the day that pigs sprout wings and fly. The pyrokinetic was as straight as an arrow, or at least that's what Kuroko's assumed from Akashi's behaviour. The blunette doesn't like making assumptions, but he couldn't just go up and ask Akashi if he was sexually attracted to the male species. Well, he could, but A, it was extremely rude, seeing how this was quite the conservative era, and B, it for sure would not end well. Because homosexuals were not regarded as human beings, Kuroko's has had to hide his sexuality since the time he realized his preference. Even when he goes to Eden, he has trouble just outright saying he's gay, even if it isn't a bad thing in Ediens' eyes.

But the poor boy couldn't help himself. Despite Akashi's reputation, he was for sure a handsome man. With his pronounced face and flawless skin, only the blind would say he wasn't stunning and aesthetically pleasing. His gold and red eyes burned whenever they turned to Kuroko and the blunette always thought that if he looked too long, he would be reduced to ash. Kuroko still had yet to experience Akashi happy, sad, or any other emotion in those categories, but has for sure seen cruelty, sadism, creepiness and whole lot of others. Yet whenever Kuroko talks to Akashi, he is always polite and very civilized, and not the demon people say, and Kuroko has seen, him to be. Kuroko simply considers himself lucky and does not add an hidden meaning to Akashi's actions. That would be childish and immature.

And so, Kuroko simply gazes from afar, keeping his feelings bottled up.

But of course, if it was only that easy. Akashi always invited him to eat meals with him and the rest of the group, so Kuroko wasn't sure why he always waited for an invitation. Also, no one sat too close to Akashi in fear of invading his personal space, so Kuroko somehow always seemed to sit next to the redhead. It definitely wasn't good for his heart, being so close to the person he likes and not being to reveal any emotion showing how he feels. And for some peculiar reason, Akashi always seems to see him, no matter how much he blends in with his surroundings. It both overjoyed Kuroko that someone could see him normally but also curious. What was special about Akashi that always made him be able to see Kuroko immediately? The blunette believed that it was Akashi's gift of foresight, so it didn't lay heavy in his mind. Yet once in a while, Kuroko would get a little feeling that the answer he created wasn't the right one. That there was another reason. But, Kuroko brushed it off, not wanting to bring his hopes up for anything when it came to Akashi. The man was as predictable as the universe.

But his torment was never seen, always hidden behind his perfect poker face that took years to polish. Even if the world was about to blow up, Kuroko had mastered how to hide his panic and it could only be told from certain movements he makes.

"There isn't any other space at other tables, so I thought I'd offer."

Kuroko snapped back to the present. "Ah, thank you Akashi-kun." Kuroko walked to the table and took his usual spot to the right of Akashi.

"Oi, Tetsu, why do ya always wait for Akashi to invite you? You're practically part of our group so I don't see why you always act like we are doing a favor to a stranger."

Kuroko looked up from his small plate of food to look at the navy head boy that just spoke. "Well, Aomine-kun, aren't I just a stranger? Despite me eating my meals with everyone, I don't really know much about everybody here and I doubt you guys know anything about me."

"Bah," scoffed Aomine, shoving a huge biscuit into his mouth. "I cwall bullwoit."

"Chew and swallow before speaking Aomine, that's disgusting. Although I guess I shouldn't be expecting much from you." The snarky scolding came from a tall boy with green hair and matching eyes framed by square black glasses. A small pig plushy sat next to his half-finished meal.

Yes, a pig plushy. Midorima was probably the most normal and reasonable person in the whole group, yet he had the biggest worship of Oha-Asa, a radio horoscope that played every day, and with it a new lucky item. No matter how embarrassing or ridiculous it was, Midorima always bought it and carried it around with him.

"What was that four-eyes?"

"I called you an idiot I believe. I assume you know what that means,"

Aomine shot straight up. "You wanna go, horoscope freak? Bring it on, I'll beat you to a pulp!"

"Sit down Dai-chan, you're making a scene." The fuming navy head listened to the pink haired girl's words and albeit reluctantly, sat down.

Kuroko shot a grateful look at the girl, known as Momoi Satsuki. She grinned back and blew a kiss to Kuroko from across the table. She was probably the most informed person in all of Teiko. Nothing happened without her knowing, making her terrifying in that light. In person though, she was a sweet and gentle girl and had the biggest crush on Kuroko. Childhood friends with Aomine, the hot-headed idiot, she came to the asylum with the other boy and was known as the Beauty in the loony bin.

"Did you have a good sleep Kurokoicchi?"

Kuroko looked at the beautiful blonde boy that addressed him. "I did Kise-kun, thank you for asking."

Kise smiled. "Any good dreams?"

Kuroko fork stopped midway to his mouth. Noticing this, Kuroko placed it back onto his plate. "I had a dreamless sleep Kise-kun, how about you?"

The blonde smiled and then began rambling about every dream he's ever had that was a pleasant one. Kuroko had long since perfected his ability to tune the blonde out.

Whenever Kuroko slept, he never saw anything, or at least that was the case after _that day_. He had neither nightmares nor pleasant dreams, just empty black space. It unnerved him at first, but he later accepted it, and realized he would never get a bad sleep. So, Kuroko found no fault or problem with never dreaming. He just made sure never to tell anybody. Occasionally, he'll say the truth, just now for example, but not too many times that people become suspicious.

The last thing he needs is someone telling the doctors and having to go through even more therapy.

Absently, Kuroko ate the last piece of food on his plate and gently placed his fork down. Akashi, noticing how Kuroko was finished in a matter of minutes, frowned.

"You really should eat more Tetsuya, only that much food isn't healthy."

Kuroko lazily glanced at Akashi before turning his head back to Kise. "I simply do not have a large appetite. I do not need much to pull me through the day."

Akashi snorted. "Daiki has an enormous appetite. Murasakibura has a large appetite while Shintaro, Satsuki, Ryouta and I have normal appetites. You however have little to no appetite. It would greatly trouble me if you were to get sick from malnutrition."

Kuroko held back a blush. They've had this conversation many times before, but Akashi never managed to succeed in making him eat more. Although he has been successful of convincing the lunch lady to give Kuroko less vanilla milkshakes, so Kuroko had to get his precious drink from elsewhere, which annoyed the blunette greatly.

Changing the topic, Kuroko noticed the lack of their tall purple haired member. "Where is Murasakibura?"

One of Akashi's slender eyebrows rose, but he answered anyways. "Atsushi is eating breakfast with Tatsuya. Apparently we're getting a new arrival and Tatsuya is to be the newbie's buddy. Of course that means Atsushi will follow them."

"A new arrival?" asked Kuroko.

"Yes," replied Akashi. "Apparently he's around our age. He's been living on the streets when one of our doctors noticed him. He was tested, and when it came out positive, papers were signed and he is to be brought here."

Kuroko looked thoughtful. "I never heard about this,"

Akashi shrugged. "Not many were told. I guess they wanted it to be a surprise for everyone. I guess by that he isn't a Severe."

Kuroko hummed in agreement.

Severes were Uniques, people like Kuroko and everyone else living in Teiko Asylum, that had gone through a particularly traumatizing and harsh experience and gained a power they could not yet control. For safety reasons, the arrival of a Severe was to be known to everyone and the instructions of how to act around a Severe were recited. Until deemed stable, Severes could not be with everyone in the asylum and was placed in the Special Ward. There, a therapist would daily visit and have sessions with the Severe until they can safely control their power without hurting themselves or others and is mentally stable enough to interact with other humans.

As one would assume, there were Severes that never got better, refused the treatment and let their power go crazy, along with their mind. Those people were known as Extremes and were put in the Danger Ward, quite a few kilometers away from the asylum. Extremes never lived long because they couldn't control their power and it would eventually consume its host. Then, the body would die and another life would be lost.

But not everyone knew this. The most the standard patient of Teiko Asylum would know about was Severes. Even Momoi only knew the existence of Extremes. Everyone had their suspicions, but no solid proof.

The only reason Kuroko knew all of this was because, a long time ago, Kuroko was an Extreme himself.

**xxxxxxx**

Well then, my precious prisoners, that is all I shall tell you for today.

Hm? What was that?

How will you all be able to guess who I am by the end of the story if I only tell you the tale?

Good question.

Very well then, I shall give you a riddle at the end of each chapter. By the time the last chapter is reached, I shall expect your answer.

_I am what at first is feared, and then later welcomed._


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**LOCATION: EARTH (DEFAULT REALM)**

After breakfast, Kuroko excused himself and dropped his plate off by the cleaning station. He was about to go back to his room, when a hand grabbed his wrist, effectively stopping him. The blunette turned around to see Kise holding his wrist.

Raising an eyebrow, Kuroko gently pried his hand off and turned to face the blonde.

"Kurokoicchi, Akashicchi and the rest are going to go say hi to Murasakiburaicchi and Tatsuyaicchi and see if we can get more information on the new arrival! I thought you would like to come along."

Kuroko opened his mouth to turn down the offer, but before he could do anything, he was dragged away by the blonde idiot and hoisted over his shoulder.

"Great! I knew Kurokoicchi would come!"

Scowling to himself, Kuroko was helplessly carried over to the rest of the group. After many months of Kise somehow finding a reason to pick him up and drag him somewhere, Kuroko learned that struggling was fruitless because despite his looks, Kise had an iron grip. A few eyebrows were raised by bystanders, but when they reached the group, no one so much as blinked an eye.

As a last resort, Kuroko shot a helpless glance at Akashi to tell him to get the blonde to let go of him, but the devil only smiled and began to lead the way to the lobby. Now letting the scowl reach his face, Kuroko internally thought of different ways to kill the blonde in his sleep, and everyone except Kise seemed to feel his killing intent.

Soon, the group reached the lobby with its deep green walls and reception desk in the corner. A few comfortable couches were along the side and in the middle of the spacious room. A tall purple-headed giant sat on one of the middle couches munching on some chips while a boy with black hair smiled and chatted with an unfamiliar face.

"Is that the new arrival?" asked Kise, mainly to himself.

"By the looks of it, yes, but where are the nurses? They should always be near a new arrival," Midorima looked around the room as he finished his sentence.

Kuroko pouted and struggled to be put down so he could see the newest patient. He hated being picked up and didn't want the first thing the new arrival see about him being his rear.

Kise suddenly remembered he was still holding Kuroko, hastily put him down, and with a quiet huff, Kuroko straightened his clothes and gave Kise's foot a nice hard stomp.

Aomine snorted at the sight of Kise holding back a wail sitting down, rubbing his foot. "That's what you get for picking up Tetsu like that, baka."

Kise bit his lip, wincing at how his foot throbbed. "Shut up, Ahomine."

Aomine frowned. "I am not an aho."

"Are too."

"Am not,"

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"I AM NOT AN AHO!"

Faster than an eye could see, two scissors seemed to fly back Kise and Aomine, just barely grazing both of their cheeks. A dull _thunk_ was heard as two scissors embedded themselves in the closest wall behind the two idiots.

Kise and Aomine both gulped, sweat beginning to drip down their foreheads as they slowly turned around to face the Devil in his human form.

"Was it just me or was it particularly noisy in here?" asked Akashi, the temperature dropping a few degrees. His eyes narrowed and stared down Kise and Aomine, waiting for an answer.

The two began to tremble as if icy daggers were being stabbed into their body. "N-no," they managed to squeak.

Akashi smiled the I-am-a-creppy-mother-fucker-who-will-slice-your-throat-in-the-middle-of-the-night-if-you-disoby-me smile. "That's what I thought. Maybe I just need to get a little fresh air,"

The two nodded in agreement so much, Kuroko was surprised their heads didn't fall off. Deciding to save them from the awkward tension in the air moments, he turned to face Akashi, his aura still menacing.

"Come on Akashi-kun, let's go meet the new arrival. That's what we came here for in the first place, is it not?"

Immediately, the room felt a little warmer and Akashi was no longer wearing his creepy smile. Donning a normal smile, Akashi turned to Kuroko. "Ah, you are right. Let us not stall any longer."

Kuroko brushed this sudden mood swing off and followed the red-head while everyone else was frozen in shock. The blunette didn't notice the lack of people following them and soon was standing next to Murasakibura. The giant saw Kuroko and gently patted his head. Pouting slightly, Kuroko brushed off the giant hand.

Expecting that, Murasakibura patted his head again before giving the small blunette something.

Kuroko's eyes lit up and grabbed the vanilla milkshake the gentle giant was holding out towards him. He thanked Murasakibura and seemingly forgot about the hand still patting his head.

Akashi shot Kuroko a disapproving look but quickly turned back to Himuro. "Good morning Tatsuya, how are you today?"

Himuro, a person who never seemed to get annoyed, smiled at Akashi. "Good morning Akashi-san. I doing well, thank you for asking. I assume you already know, but we have a new arrival."

Kuroko took a moment to stop enjoying his milkshake and get a better look at the new arrival. He looked around his age with red hair and eyes, a few shades darker than Akashi's though. Large eyebrows lay above his eyes and a large, firmly built body leaned a bit stiffly on the couch. A bit shorted than Aomine, but Kuroko could already see some similar physical traits. Headphones were plugged into a Walkman, and Kuroko could just barely hear the music spilling out from their location on the new arrival's ears.

"This is Kagami Taiga. He's our age and I was hoping he could hang out with us just so he can get a feeling for how things go around here."

Kuroko raised an eyebrow. "I don't think they are the best choice Himuro-kun. I think it'd be better if you chose some other people."

Himuro looked at Kuroko, slightly surprised. "Ah, good morning Kuroko-san. My apologies for not noticing you earlier,"

Akashi frowned at Kuroko. "Are you saying that we are a bad influence Tetsuya?"

Kuroko shook his head. "No, I am simply saying since your group is a little, _extreme,_ it'd be best to let Kagami-kun to shadow (AN: pun not intended) other people to get a sense of what normality is like here."

"So you are saying that we aren't normal and calm enough?"

"Do you believe that you are?"

Akashi scoffed. "Of course we aren't normal."

Kuroko hummed in agreement. "My point exactly."

Himuro laughed, interrupting our discussion. "If it was anyone else, I would agree with Kuroko, but I have a feeling Taiga will fit in with you guys swimmingly."

Akashi raised an eyebrow. "Already on a first-name basis Tatsuya?"

Himuro laughed, albeit a bit awkwardly from the jealous look Murasakibura was sending. "Well, he is my brother after all."

A second passed by, just letting the words sink in.

Kuroko was the first to break the silence. "I didn't know you had a brother Himuro-kun."

Scratching his head, Himuro offered a thoughtful smile. "He and I aren't related by blood, but we were both raised by the same woman after both of our parents died. We always stayed together back then and although we didn't share the same DNA, we consider each other brothers."

"How come I never heard about him Muro-chin?" asked Murasakibura.

Himuro's expression turned pained. "I never said anything about him because I never thought I'd see him here."

The subject was immediately dropped.

Changing his expression back into the familiar smile that everyone was used to, Himuro clapped his hands together. "Well then, I hope the nurses aren't much longer. They had to go and sign some papers that unfortunately could only be signed once Taiga was brought here."

As if by command, two ladies appeared from behind the reception desk and walked towards Kuroko and the others.

Aomine and the rest still hadn't come over to greet the new arrival, so Kuroko turned back to look at them, only to see them having a frantic whispering conversation. Kuroko watched amused as a lot of hand motions were used and how everyone's facial reactions constantly changed. Deciding to bring them over to greet Kagami, Kuroko strolled over to the group.

"-saying it as if it was possible!"

"Come one guys don't be cruel, he is still a human,"

"That doesn't mean we don't have a right to be surprised by this! When you think about it though, it's kinda obvious,"

"Yeah, at first I thought he was just being polite, but that totally just proved it more,"

"Proved what more?"

All four of them screamed at Kuroko's sudden appearance.

Momoi fainted and Aomine caught her before she hit the ground. "Holy crap Tetsu, how much did you hear?"

"What proved what more?" replied Kuroko, repeating his question.

Aomine gave him a blank look before seeming to snap out of it. "Uh, um, n-nothing,"

Kuroko narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but didn't continue to push. "I came over to tell you guys to meet the new arrival, Kagami-kun."

"Oh really!" said Kise, a tad too quick to be considered unsuspicious. "Well then, let's go over to meet him, hm?"

Still suspicious, Kuroko slowly nodded and watched the group migrate over to where Akashi and Himuro were casually chatting. Apparently the screams seemed to cause Kagami to frantically take off his headphones and give the new place a terrified once over. Staying behind, Kuroko watched with curiosity how the group interacted with the new arrival.

Kise offered a bright and overly optimistic greeting, sparkles and flowers practically visible behind him. As most of the rest of the group, Kuroko could tell that Kagami immediately dubbed Kise as the "idiot" and was already teasing him.

Midorima acted as his usual tsundere like self and Kagami had mixed feelings about the guy. He could be trusted to a certain extent. Only Takao seemed to be able to fully love Midorima and his tendencies to be a slap to the face and then a caring mother hen.

Momoi regained conscious after a few minutes and patted Aomine's arm to let him know that he could put her down now. Once she had regained her bearings, Momoi introduced herself to Kagami, leaving the new arrival as a stuttering mess. Kuroko laughed quietly to himself as he watched Aomine suddenly put himself in between Kagami and Momoi. This ended up as a physical and verbal fight as punches were thrown and "Ahomine" and "Bakagami" could be heard throughout the lobby.

It turned out Kuroko's prediction was correct. The two were like copies of each other. Both had a short temper and never thought about how they acted and what they said.

The nurses were frantically trying to stop the fight, not wanting Aomine to beat Kagami into a pulp and make the new arrival hate the institution. Unfortunately, they couldn't do anything, so as a last resort, the nurses shot a helpless glance at Akashi.

The red head sighed, grabbed the scissors embedded in the far wall and stalked over to Aomine and Kagami. The quarrelling boys both too caught up in the adrenaline of the fight did not notice Akashi's warning aura, and both suddenly halted their movements as they felt sharp blades held against their necks. Aomine's usually tanned skin seemed to lose its vibrancy as he internally cursed at himself for being stupid enough to anger Akashi twice in a row.

Since Kagami was a newbie, he did not yet know of Akashi and the danger of angering him. Pissed, the taller redhead looked down at Akashi and glared, trying to become menacing.

"What the hell are you doing shorty?"

The room once again lost its warmth, and Kuroko silently pondered if anyone was going to get hypothermia from the constant temperature changes. Himuro's face slowly turned panicked as Akashi did not answer Kagami, but his presence suddenly became denser and that much more deadly. The silence hung heavily on everyone's shoulders, no one daring to make a sound.

"I understand that you are fairly new to this whole concept of living in an asylum and having extraordinary abilities, but I had hoped the outcome I foresaw would be the one where you don't insult me. For your own sake."

Kagami, finally coming down from his high, suddenly felt the surrounding atmosphere and how it all seemed to radiate from the silent man in front of him. He already knew not to judge a person by their outwards appearance and was working on thinking before acting, but of all times for it to fail him, the red head regretted it now most of all times.

Once second, Kagami was standing still, staring petrified by Akashi, the next, he was rammed into the wall, cracks forming from the force. Groaning, Kagami slumped down and clutched his head. His hand came away with a little bit of blood, a small trickle already flowing down the side of his face. Before anyone could react, two blood-red scissors came flying at Kagami, one on each side of his face, leaving thin yet deep cuts on both of his cheeks. The poor new arrival's body immediately stiffened, alert and then slumped back down again.

Akashi began to walk towards him, his murderous intent still overflowing. The nurses and doctors were too scared of Akashi to intervene and everyone else didn't dare move, too scared of the consequences of getting in Akashi's way.

All except Kuroko.

This wasn't the first time he's seen Akashi go murderous and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Last time he stopped the homicidal red head by talking to him and diverting his attention, so Kuroko bravely stepped in, intending to do just that.

Akashi had a third pair of scissors in his hand with Kagami's name written all over it.

"Akashi-kun," said Kuroko, his voice soft and gentle, not commanding. Akashi never liked to be the one following orders, especially whenever he got like this, so Kuroko had to make sure his voice didn't sound like he was imposing on the red head.

Akashi stopped and turned his head to stare at Kuroko. His blazing gold and red eyes bore into Kuroko's, but the smaller boy did not back down.

"I'm sure Kagami-kun had no idea what he was talking about. He is a new arrival and ignorance is to be expected." Akashi growled in disagreement, but did not take another step forward.

Seeing this, Kuroko pressed on. "As you've notice, Kagami-kun is very similar to Aomine-kun. Both of them are idiots. They do not take heed of what they say before it escapes their lips."

Aomine opened his mouth to protest, but Momoi quickly stomped on his foot, effectively making him shut up.

Akashi's eye flickered from Kuroko's eyes down to a lower point of his face, but it was too fast to be sure where.

"I'm sure that Kagami has now learned his lesson and will not repeat the mistake. Isn't that right, Himuro-kun?" Kuroko shot the ravenette a desperate look, and catching on, he nodded.

"Oh yes, for sure Akashi-san."

Slowly, Kuroko took some steps forward. Inch by inch he got closer to Akashi, still staring at him, but the tension in the air had significantly lessened. Soon the blunette was millimeters apart from Akashi. He could smell the faint yet distinctive scent of cinnamon and apples coming off from Akashi, and it took all of his willpower not to blush and keep his mind on task.

Carefully, Kuroko reached out for Akashi's scissors, making his every movement seen so that Akashi did not think there was someone sneaking up on him. Strangely, the red head seemed to pay no heed to Kuroko's actions and Kuroko wondered if there was something on his face the way Akashi was intensively staring at him. It was far from unpleasant, and that was also far from helping the rushing heat threatening to paint his cheeks. The look felt almost, well, intimate.

Kuroko gently grabbed the scissor blades and tugged them out of Akashi's grasp. Undoubtedly Akashi had another pair somewhere on his body, but Kuroko decided not to worry about that. Once it was successfully out of Akashi's hands, Kuroko placed them in one of his trousers' pockets. Daring himself, Kuroko shyly met Akashi's stare and felt as if lightning had struck him.

His body seemed paralyzed, and Kuroko knew that the red head had no such power. Yet the heterochromatic eyes pulled him in, like a quiet lullaby, singing sweet songs in his ears and numbing his senses. The blunette let his eyelids drop slightly and somehow, he was even closer to Akashi, their bodies almost flushed against each other. The red head leaned in, but the movement seemed to pull Kuroko out of his trance, and the blunette pulled back, retreating a few steps.

Reality came crashing back in, and Kuroko had to reorient himself. Blinking a few times, the blunette looked at Akashi who appeared just as confused as him. Kuroko willed his burning cheeks back into neutrality and his momentarily broken poker face was re-established.

Akashi also seemed to regain his bearings and briskly walked out of the lobby. As soon as he turned the corner, the nurses went rushing to Kagami, one of them calling a doctor.

Kuroko took a few deep breaths, excusing himself and went straight to his room.

Slamming the door behind him, Kuroko leaned against his door and slowly slid down, he covered his bright red face with his hands, flustered and embarrassed. Akashi was _never_ like that. It was the first time Kuroko had received any hint that maybe, _just maybe_, his crush reciprocated his feelings. It made his heart soar right out of his chest and feel emotions he's never felt before. Even when he came up with other plausible reasons for Akashi's actions, nothing seemed to make his heart slow down and get rid of this giddy feeling.

It felt…..nice.

Well, nice for lack of better words. Kuroko could go outside and scream his lungs out in joy and skip in the hallways, turning into girl along the way. That feeling of euphoria was better than any other drug Kuroko had ever had, and he never wanted it to end.

Yet it also terrified Kuroko. This was the first time he's ever felt this way, and he didn't know how to act, or what it meant. And Kuroko was never fond of the unknown.

The air surrounding him suddenly felt suffocating and his face wouldn't stop burning. Deciding that he couldn't stay here, Kuroko quickly stood up, grabbed his knap-sack full of books, and opened a portal to a world he created just for the purpose of relaxing.

**LOCATION: BRITTIA (REALM #9)**

Kuroko found himself alone on a small island, around the size of the lobby with a few tall palm trees. Warm white sand made it difficult for Kuroko to walk, so he removed his shoes and socks, placing them by a palm tree and made his way to the hammock he made and hung in between to close trees. By the hammock, a bin full of clothes stood tall, and Kuroko stripped himself of his current clothes and put on a pair of comfy white cotton shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, unbuttoned, exposing his pale chest to the golden rays. He also pulled out a headband to keep his hair out of his eyes and finally stretched and stared at the expanse of ocean surrounding him.

Crystal clear water sparkled all around, creating a beautiful picture. Small waves lapped against the shore, but no birds were heard or seen. Nearby islands similar to the one Kuroko was standing on were silent, but the smoke coming out from beneath the trees revealed other life.

The natives of Brittia were kind people and he was good friends with them. Whenever he needed a good meal, he always made his way to the main island with his boat currently docked against the small wood dock behind the hammock. They were also maters of cooking. Kuroko could crack a coconut open on his island or fish, but sometimes he wanted something better.

The blunette placed his book bag down and randomly fished out a novel. He settled into his hammock, but just before he began to read, Kuroko changed the time flow between Brittia and Earth.

Once done, Kuroko opened his Deadalun book and dived into the world of books, effectively forgetting everything.

**LOCATION: EARTH (DEFAULT REALM)**

"Is he still there?"

"Yes sir. Ever since he was 13 years of age."

The man who previously spoke sighed. "I already know that. I mean, is he currently in _this _wold?"

"Um" the other voice panicked. He didn't know, and not knowing was never a good thing. "I-I'm not sure sir. No agents have made contact with him yet,"

Silence reigned.

"You don't know?"

The man gulped. "I-I'm sure contact will be made soon, the agents are highly skilled and will for su-"

The speaking man was cut off short by a bullet in his head.

"I hate not fucking knowing."

The man snapped his fingers and two burly sized men walked through the oak doors and carried the corpse out of the office.

"I will catch you in due time Kuroko Tetsuya. And when I do, you will be the ultimate tool."

**xxxxxxx**

Kuroko sneezed as he walked through the portal back into his room.

"Someone's talking about me," he murmured.

He finished three books back in Brittia, and damn, were they good.

Tired, Kuroko looked at his clock, showing that he had about a half hour before dinner. Deciding not to take and shower and just be lazy, Kuroko plopped onto his plump bed and sighed. There was nothing more relaxing than spending two days in Brittia on his own personal island. There was a festival on the main island, so Kuroko made sure to catch a water taxi to take him there. There were fireworks and stalls set up all along the roads. Food was roasting and everything tasted fantastic. Kuroko was now ready to deal with his current situation and not mess it up.

_Okay,_ he thought, _just act normally. It will make the situation more awkward if I act different and nervous_. Repeating that a few times to himself, Kuroko changed out of his trousers, vest and shirt and replaced them with simple shorts and a cotton tunic. Stretching, Kuroko sighed and lay down on his bed again. Soon, he reached that plane in between falling asleep and staying awake. It was then he heard the shouts of other boys outside in the hallway and Kuroko reluctantly pushed up, leaving his room for dinner.

Once in the mess hall, Kuroko was greeted by the usual cacophony of noise and made his way to the buffet line. Tonight's special seemed to be Cream of Broccoli and spaghetti and meatballs. Kuroko grabbed himself a bowl and filled it just under halfway and placed a small amount of pasta onto his plate. He grabbed a clean cup and poured himself a glass of ice water from a pitcher and casually walked over to the lunch lady. Swiping his card, Kuroko left to look for Akashi and the others, and obviously soon found them.

But this time, there was a new head among the rainbow. Kuroko internally smiled to himself as he neared to the table. He was glad that Kagami was getting along with everyone in the group despite what had happened earlier. Though his injuries looked almost completely healed.

That was strange. It was impossible to heal that quickly in only a few hours. Maybe he had a faster healing rate compared to normal people He wouldn't be the first person to have that power. Which reminded Kuroko that he never introduced himself and found out what Kagami's power was.

Kuroko reached the table and took his usual seat beside Akashi. The red head seemed to be in a vivid conversation with Midorima, so he didn't notice Kuroko's arrival. The blunette took note that Takao and Himuro were eating with everyone else, both also seeming to take part in the conversation between Akashi and Midorima. Actually, everyone seemed to be adding a thing or two to the discussion. Curious, Kuroko started to pay attention to what they were saying.

"-been a week, no one has a clue."

"I'm sure he's fine. According to the nurses, this isn't the first time he's done this,"

Momoi looked surprised. "You mean he's been gone for this long before?"

Midorima nodded. "Apparently. I have no idea where he goes, though,"

Kagami took a second between his bites of an overly stuffed plate. "I wonder-_chomp_\- when I'll-_chew_-get to meet-_swallow_-this Kuroko guy everyone one keeps on talking about."

Kuroko frowned. "I'm right here," he said.

Everyone except Akashi let out a girly shriek and fell off of the benches. Akashi simply did a double take and his eyes grew wide and his breathing picked up.

"Holy fuck Tetsu,"groaned Aomine. "What the actual fuck?!"

The whole cafeteria was silent and everyone was staring at the current people on the floor. Kagami let out a rather colorful couple of sentences before sitting back up and glaring at Kuroko.

"I assume that this is the guy then?"

Kuroko blinked, confused. "Ano, I know that I can scare you guys sometimes, but this is by far the biggest reaction I've gotten so far. Did something happen?"

Midorima sat up, readjusting his crooked glasses. "Did something happen?" he echoed. " Do you think we're idiots?"

Kuroko was seriously confused.

"Kuro-chin, you've been missing for a week." said Murasakibura, munching on his chips down on the floor, not even attempting to stand back up.

Kuroko's eyes widened. "A week!?" He furrowed his brows. Judging from Akashi's reactions, they weren't lying, but how was it possible for him to be away for week!

Suddenly, realization dawned upon the blunette. He must've done the time flow management incorrectly and making time slowdown in Brittia. So much that two days equaled seven back on Earth. Kuroko internally cursed at himself. He never checked it after he supposedly set it after he first entered the realm. He was too caught up in his books and the events going on around him and completely slipped his mind.

Donning his neutral expression back on, Kuroko casually began to eat his dinner.

"So," cut in Akashi. "Are you going to tell everyone where you were?"

Kuroko was tempted to continue eating and pretend he didn't hear him, but even he could tame Akashi only so much.

"I apologize for not informing every one of my leave, but ended up staying longer than I originally expected."

Akashi raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "You did not answer my question Tetsuya."

Kuroko looked down at his plate, but kept his voice strong. "Where I went is of no importance or concern to anyone Akashi-kun."

"And what if it is simply to cure my curiosity of where you could possibly go to that the doctors and staff had no way of reaching you and still seemed unconcerned."

Now it was Kuroko's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Unconcerned?"

"Yes," replied Momoi. "They acted as if it was no big deal that you were missing. They even said you've been missing for long periods of time before in the past."

"Really," mumbled Tetsuya, mostly to himself. It was true that he had done this before, except those times not by mistake, and the longest he believed he was gone for was around two months. The nurses and doctors were very worried and frantic when he finally returned and he had to sit through a two hour long scolding. Since then, Kuroko's been trying to not stay away for such a length of time that people would be worried. This was the first time he's been missing for a period of time since he started hanging out with Akashi and the rest of the group. He didn't expect them to be worried before, but he was currently proved wrong.

He could tell that everyone at the table aside from Kagami had spent at least a thought of worrying for Kuroko.

But Kuroko still didn't want to tell them. Not many people knew what his power was, but a majority assumed it was invisibility.

Sighing, Kuroko finally looked up at Akashi, still waiting for an answer. "Well then Akashi-kun, I would tell you to mind your own business and that I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I would then say I do not understand why you and everyone else were so worried for me. As the doctors said, this isn't the first time I've done this, so there shouldn't have been a reason for the unnecessary drama."

The air turned quiet, the background noise of other patients talking seemingly fading away from the heaviness of the tension. Not many were brave enough to stand up to Akashi, no matter how close they were to him. Mostly because everyone was terrified of the res head.

Kuroko understood that to some point. It was true that Akashi was intimidating and threatening when he wanted to be, and probably wouldn't think twice about killing you, but that didn't mean he was some sort of monster.

No one deserves to be called a monster. Especially Akashi. The true monsters of the world rest outside of the asylum. Here, Akashi was simply a human who enjoyed exercising control and fear.

Frightening, but human none the less.

That was why Kuroko saw no reason to treat him as if he was a blood thirsty monster ready to kill him at one wrong word.

Blood thirsty human, more than likely, but still not a monster.

Kuroko stood up with his plate and bowl and left the table. He could no longer stand the tension in the air and felt uncomfortable. Dumping the extra food into the trash, Kuroko left his plates at the cleaning area and left the mess hall.

He was a few turns away from his room when a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him against the wall. His arms were forced up and held there by a hand with an iron grip.

Startled blue eyes met glowing red gold as Akashi pushed his body flushed against Kuroko's, effectively making it impossible for the blunette to escape. The red head was undoubtedly stronger than he appeared and clearly used the fact that Kuroko was weaker to his advantage.

Their faces were dangerously close, faces only millimetres apart.

"You want to know why I care so much?" murmured Akashi.

Kuroko wasn't able to answer as Akashi's lips came crashing down on his.

**xxxxxxx**

That is the end of this chapter my dear prisoners. May you all eagerly await the next.

I am the one who cares about him and understands him the most; yet I am the one who drags him off the road.

**xxxxxxx**

**Well, that's chapter 2 done and over with. Kinda left you guys on a cliffhanger, but I regret nothing!**

**Also, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday!**

**-BrokenWings66**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi guys, BrokenWings66 here. I'm so sorry about the huge hiatus period I had. A lot has been going on along with the major writer's block I had for this chapter. I wanted to get this out as soon as I finished it, so please pardon any grammatical errors you may find!**

Knees drawn in, back curled, and head burrowed in the small space of darkness provided, Kuroko slowly rocked back and forth on his bed. His clock read 12:54am, and Kuroko was never the type of person to stay up late. Once he entered the asylum, he would go to bed no later than ten.

Murmuring short phrases of nonsense, the blunette wished nothing more than to crawl under his covers and disappear. He deluded himself on the fantasy of escaping to one of his paradises, but seeing how shaken he was, Kuroko guessed he would make a mistake somewhere. The last thing he needed to was to mess up the time dial, _again_.

Going missing for a week by accident was bad enough. Imagine Kuroko's horror when he quietly slipped away to Eden, only to mess up the time dial once again due to his scrambled train of thoughts. After spending two hours clearing his mind, he returned to Earth only to find that close to 4 hours had passed.

Thankfully it was in the middle of the night, so no one noticed.

However, all of these things seemed to melt into the background as the events of hours ago continued to replay in his mind.

**XXXXXXX**

Soft, plush lips moved gently on his own as the scent of cinnamon slowly overtook his senses. Kuroko could only stare at the pair of red and gold eyes that challenged him back with a different type of intensity. It was as if they were _daring _him to push away.

Not that Kuroko would have. Too many times had he dreamed this moment, yet they were supposed to be just dreams, nothing more. The same feeling of paralysis took hold of Kuroko's muscles and everything seemed to sharpen, taking away the breath of the still unresponsive blunette.

Then, the feeling crashed and Kuroko's mind went fuzzy, the only he was sure of was the warmth on his lips. For once, Kuroko was glad he was being pressed against a wall and held up, for he was certain had Akashi not been flush against him, his weak knees would have collapsed on him. Mind still scattered, Kuroko slowly let his lids droop and tentatively, the blunette began to kiss back.

Though he wasn't sure, Kuroko could've sworn he felt Akashi smirk. But the thought was pushed back, along with the rest of his rationality as the euphoric feeling he was terrified of came back stronger than ever.

It seemed to pump electricity into his veins, causing his nerves to be numb and at attention all at the same time. A warm feeling surged into Kuroko's chest, but instead of being suffocating, it felt much more like back on the beach at Eden, the sun gently basking him in its warm rays, heated powder-like sand comfortably surrounding him and the serene sense of calm taking over his overused mind.

Yet this time, long slender fingers traced the outline of his body instead of grains of sand, a living, breathing, warm body replaced the sunlight and the loud rhythm of his heartbeat succeeded the quiet lullaby of the waves reaching for shore.

**XXXXXXX**

Kuroko was pulled out of his reverie when a small pair of arms attempted to wrap themselves around his waist. A small smile made its way to Kuroko's lips as he felt a warm body press itself against his back.

"Kuro…."

**XXXXXXX**

The kiss slowly went from chaste and innocent to aggressive, full of pent up feelings and failed confessions. A small moan made its way pass Kuroko's lips, eagerly swallowed by Akashi. A sharp pain on his lip made Kuroko gasp, Akashi readily taking this opportunity to slip his tongue into the other's mouth. A noise of surprise died in Kuroko's throat and was replaced with yet another moan, sending shivers down both his and Akashi's spine.

The two fought for dominance before Akashi exerted control and Kuroko easily gave into him, submitting himself to the rough kiss.

Akashi tasted of crisp apples, as he was eating one for dessert during dinner, but also something slightly spicy and alluring. Kuroko eagerly roamed around as much as he could, addicting himself to the unfamiliar taste. So caught up in the haze, he barely registered the fact that his arms were no longer being held in place. Instinctively, he let them wrap around Akashi's neck, bringing them closer.

Too soon, his lungs began to prickle, and reluctantly, Kuroko pulled away from Akashi to catch his breath. Their soft pants were the only noise in the deserted hallway, their foreheads resting on each other's, breaths mingling as if they were breathing the same air.

Shyly, Kuroko looked up to meet Akashi's soft gaze. A gently smile graced Akashi's lips, and Kuroko could've sworn he felt his heart stop for the umpteenth time that day.

The two stayed in that position long after they regained their breath and let the mugginess seep away. Akashi's arms were firmly wrapped around Kuroko's waist and the latter's circled around Akashi's neck.

"I take it that you understood what I was trying to say?" softly asked Akashi, breaking the comfortable silence.

"How long?" whispered Kuroko, not trusting his voice completely just yet to come out strong from his swollen lips. His head turned downed down automatically, staring at the ground.

Akashi smiled at the question. "The second time I ever asked you to sit with the rest of us, all those years ago. However, that's when I acknowledged the fact that I deeply cared for you, beyond the constricting boundaries of mere friends. I suppose I subconsciously fell in love with you the moment I first saw you enter the asylum three years ago."

Kuroko unconsciously stiffened before relaxing. "Fell in love?"

Akashi chuckled. "Is it too soon for me to say that?"

Kuroko lifted his head to look at Akashi, only to find the usually cold and hard heterochromatic irises replaced by warm, soft, almost vulnerable, hooded eyes. His breath got caught in his throat, finding himself getting lost in the new eyes that stared at him with such a passion, he almost felt unworthy.

"N-no," he managed to stutter, all of a sudden embarrassed and turned his head down again, his interest in the floor suddenly spiking.

Had they always been such a clean gray?

Akashi chuckled again before removing one of his hands from Kuroko's waist, placing it on the blunette's chin, forcing him to look back at him. Akashi leaned in and shared a sweet, chaste kiss with Kuroko, enjoying the sudden blossom of pink on the blunette's cheeks.

"So what does that make us?"

Kuroko needed to say it, despite Akashi already confessing his feelings. The blunette didn't want any doubts to flutter in his mind for this feeling of standing on cloud nine was too pleasant to be disturbed by insecurities.

Akashi smirked. "Well that depends on your feelings to me Tetsuya. I've said mine; it's your turn now."

Kuroko's face suddenly felt too hot and he looked down again. There was a pregnant pause before the blunette finally answered. "I-I've always l-liked Akashi-kun," his voice no louder than a mouse. "But I always assumed that Akashi-kun didn't like me in that way, so I always kept to myself about my feelings."

Unknown to Kuroko, Akashi was wearing one the largest smiles as the shy blunette's voice eventually died out.

"Call me by my name, Tetsuya,"

Confused, Kuroko lifted his head. "Akashi-kun?"

Akashi shook his head, their foreheads touching. "No, my first name,"

Kuroko's eye widened and his face became beet red. He almost never called people by their first names, even if they ask him to. To Kuroko, it felt too intimate for something as precious as another individual's identity to be spoken from his lips. Especially since his positive outlook on humanity had withered away long ago. The isolation from society made him turn away any thoughts of having friends or companions. He always figured in the end, he would be betrayed by them or he would in some way hurt them. Despite Kuroko's practical demeanor, he actually over-thought quite a bit.

"I-I don't think would be appropriate, Akashi-kun."

"Seijuurou," insisted Akashi.

"I-I don't think I-"

"Seijuurou."

"People do no-"

"Seijuurou,"

"R-Really, Aka-"

Without a second thought, Akashi tenderly kissed Kuroko, interrupting his sentence. Kuroko stiffened before immediately relaxing. However, before the kiss could continue further, Akashi suddenly pulled away. He gazed into Kuroko's eyes, determination blazing.

"Seijuurou."

Kuroko nervously met Akashi's stare. "S-Seijuurou," he mumbled. Content, Akashi smiled and kissed Kuroko again.

Stunned, Kuroko's mouth dropped, much to Akashi's pleasure.

Within a span of minutes, Kuroko had seen Akashi, the Devil's reincarnation upon the earth, genuinely smile more than two times. Practically no one has ever seen Akashi smile before. Sure, there were the I'm-going-to-murder-you-in-your-sleep, or the Disobey-me-I-dare-you smiles, but it was considered a myth or an impossible task to ever see or get Akashi Seijuurou to genuinely smile. There was a throbbing sensation in Kuroko's chest, another feeling he had never felt before. It grew more intense when he thought that other people could see that smile.

_Is this what is known as possessiveness?_ He thought. Kuroko didn't want anyone else to see the beautiful look of happiness painted on Akashi's face. That was something only he would ever see and that made him confident and pleased. He loved Akashi so much, it practically hurt.

"Y-you didn't answer my question Aka-I mean, Seijuurou,"

Akashi simply hummed. "What do you want us to be Kuroko?"

Mind blank, Kuroko began sputtering out random words, trying to form the statement

Akashi laughed and kissed Kuroko's nose. "Kuroko Tetsuya, will you be my special one, my significant other, my other half, my lover?"

Kuroko's face burst into magnificent shades of red, as those were the words he had been trying to say. He could only nod his head and respond to the deep kiss initiated between the two.

**XXXXXXX**

"What are you doing here Kuro? Did you come to visit me?"

Kuroko turned around, picking up the small toddler and placing him in his lap.

Pale cerulean eyes met with a matching pair, soft baby blue hair slightly untidy. Smooth, alabaster skin mirrored flawless snow kissed skin. Kuroko looked lovingly at the younger version of himself, Kuro, sitting in his lap and playing with his shirt.

"Onii-sama has made a lot of mistakes recently. I wanted to make sure you weren't sick,"

Kuroko smiled at the angelic boy before him. "I'm sorry I caused you to worry. I'm fine. A lot of things have happened and I seem to find my head in the clouds quite often."

Kuro gazed at Kuroko, worry still evident in his large blue pools. "Are you sure?"

Kuroko leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on the small boy's forehead. "Positive."

Kuro's face morphed into a bright smile. "That's great! I thought Onii-sama was sick and got worried because I don't like it when Onii-sama gets sick or hurt."

Kuroko chuckled. If there was one word he would use to describe Kuro, he would say pain-staking pure hearted. There only stood Kuroko in Kuro's eyes. Everyone else seemed redundant. There could be a murderer in the building killing all the staff and patients, and Kuro would only acknowledge their existence if the murderer so much as looked at Kuroko.

Unlike Kuroko, he was no stranger to possessiveness.

**XXXXXXX**

At around 8:40 in the morning, Kuroko was experiencing a very troubling decision. Should he go to the cafeteria for breakfast where Aka- _Seijuurou_, would be for sure? Or instead just stay in his room and maybe give Avalon a visit. It has been a while since he last went to the magical dimension of mythical civilizations and species.

Sighing to himself, Kuroko unsurely dragged his hand through his untamed blue tresses. He actually managed to comb them down in only eight minutes, but due to his unrelenting worry and constant hair tugging, the aquamarine locks returned to their original form.

Kuroko gave himself a small slap and walked to his bedroom door. Walking out and locking the door behind him, Kuroko took in the silence of the hallways. Most of the other patients were already in the cafeteria, eager for breakfast.

One step after another, the blunette pushed himself forward along the hallway. Small but insistent strings tugged at his pounding heart, each string leading his mind to different scenarios of what could happen the moment Kuroko stepped into the cafe.

_Maybe Akashi accidently slept in today and misses breakfast. _As if, this is Akashi Seijuurou we're talking about here.

_Maybe Akashi won't notice you and you could eat breakfast at an empty table. _There aren't any empty tables and Akashi's Emperor Eye would definitely not miss anyone, _especially _Kuroko.

_Then just turn down Akashi's offer of eating with him and the others. _But what excuse is there for Kuroko to use? He has no other people he is particularly close to. And before he got acquainted to Akashi and the others, Kuroko just ate breakfast in another realm. There was no secret room or place he knew of or claimed. Besides, Kuroko didn't want Akashi to think he was ashamed of what happened and wanted to forget. Quite the opposite actually, but so many people detest homosexual relationships, Kuroko didn't want to run the risk of one of his friends being homophobic.

The unprepared blunette wasn't given any more time to worry as he reached the swinging doors of the cafeteria.

Were they always so tall?

Gathering his calm and rechecking his poker face, Kuroko walked through the doors. There was a bigger line for the food seeing how it was 8:48 and the breakfast buffet opened at 8:30. Taking him place at the end, Kuroko tried to let his mind wander to thoughts that didn't lead to a certain red head. Desperate, the blunette thought of last night.

He thought of Kuro, the precious little boy hugging him and smiling up at the taller copy. He imagined his soft, bell-like laughter and immediately a soothing feeling washed over the fretting blunette. The tight, suffocating feeling eased away and Kuroko found himself with a ghost of a smile on his lips, his head floating amongst the clouds.

Sighing in content, Kuroko lazily let the line lead him to the food and absent mindedly, the blunette put a tiny amount of food on his plate. He went through the same non-changing routine of placing his tray on the scale, swiping his card, biding the lunch lady good morning, and aimlessly wandering looking for a table.

"Tetsuya,"

Kuroko immediately froze at the sound of Akashi's voice. Closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again, Kuroko turned around and walked towards the table he always ended eating at with all of the same people (except now there was another red head in the rainbow).

Taking his unanimously reserved place beside Akashi, Kuroko couldn't bring himself to look at the red head.

Before Akashi could comment on anything, Kise decided to bless Kuroko with his unwanted cheerfulness.

"Kurokoicchi~! Did you sleep well last night? Apparently there was a really loud thunderstorm. I don't want you to get sick and be sleep deprived~."

Kuroko looked up to face the blond and could practically feel Akashi's stare burn his cheek.

"N-no Kise-kun, I slept fine. I was not even aware of there being a storm. I must've slept through it," Kuroko silently cursed at himself for stuttering.

There was a brief flash of some sort of emotion in Kise's eyes, and Kuroko would have normally ignored it, had Aomine not called him out on it.

"What the fuck are you talking about blondie? It didn't even drizzle last night, much less pour down with thunder and lightning."

The said blond narrowed his eyes quickly at Aomine before flashing everyone a bright, _plastic_ smile. "It's just a little game everyone's been doing lately. I was seeing if Kurokoicchi tells us the truth. I don't _doubt_ that Kurokoicchi _trusts_ us and wouldn't _lie_ to us; besides, it's just a game people are playing on their friends."

At times like this, Kuroko seriously doubts all the sayings that Kise Ryouta is as stupid and unobservant as everyone makes him out to be. Behind bright smiles and tight hugs lie devious intentions. Because remember, bright smiles could gaze down at a battered body. Tight hugs could be used to see how much harder you need to squeeze in order to crush a body.

Unnoticed by everyone else, Momoi shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The tension was too thick for her liking, but just as she was about to change the subject a tray was placed next to hers and the muscular body of a sleepy Kagami Taiga slumped on the bench.

Not missing the golden opportunity, Momoi quickly broke the rather cold silence. "Ah, Tetsu-kun, you haven't been formally introduced to Kagami-kun, have you?"

Turning his head away from Kise and facing his gaze towards the pinkette, Kuroko looked at Momoi.

"Hai…"

"Perfect! Tetsu-kun, this is Kagami Taiga! His is our age actually, his birthday on August 2nd-"

"Leo," muttered Midorima.

"-a Leo, his blood type is A positive, 190 centimetres tall, 82 kilograms in weight-"

"How the heck do you know so much about me!" screamed Kagami, now looking at Momoi with wide eyes.

Innocently, the pinkette tilted her head. "I looked at your files."

Silence.

Kuroko furrowed his brows slightly. "Didn't you say you would stop doing that Momoi-san?"

The girl in question looked at Kuroko, a puzzled expression donned on her features. "Did I? I don't remember,"

"You did," piped in Akashi.

"Hm," Momoi looked deep in thought. Suddenly she sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Oopsie.."

Aomine snorted. "Acting cute will get you nowhere Satsuki,"

Momoi pouted. "But I really did forget. It must've been a long time ago. "

"You promised three weeks ago,"

"Which is a long time,"

"Aren't you supposed to have a good memory?"

Pout at maximum power, tears began to pool in Momoi's eyes. "I DO HAVE A GOOD MEMORY STUPID DAI-CHAN!" She abruptly got up and walked to the other side of the table. Sitting herself next to Kuroko, she jumped on the poor blunette before letting her cries out.

Expecting this outcome, Kuroko just patted the crying pinkette's hair, albeit amused, as he watched Kagami and Aomine gawk at the scene, both too awkward to solve the problem.

Kagami looked like he wanted to say something while Aomine just looked like he ate ten too many sandwiches.

"Eh," everyone except Bakagami and Ahomine sighed. "You made her cry."

Under normal circumstances, Kuroko would have found the fact that all of them speaking in sync slightly disturbing, but he was currently comforting Momoi and fending off Akashi's jealous stare at the moment. Kuroko can only multi-task so many things.

"Momoi-san" he murmurs.

The said girl looked up at Kuroko, eyes glimmering in the bright light of the cafeteria.

"You have an excellent memory; in fact you are one of the smartest people I know. Aomine knows this too, he just forgets sometimes because he's an idiot. There is no need to cry. If you want, I can walk you back to your room."

Momoi just stared at Kuroko, her lips trembling, before she suddenly lunged out at Kuroko, collecting him into a bear hug.

"You're so nice Tetsu-kun, I love you so much," wailed the pinkette.

Kuroko simply hummed and patted her back. By now the whole cafeteria was looking at them, but it wasn't the first time and definitely not the last, so Kuroko decided not to make a big deal out of it.

Kise nudged the two statues with red and blue hair. "That's how you do it, bakas."

Aomine immediately reacted and began arguing with Kise, trying to preserve the remnants of his pride while Kagami just sat down, wondering how a skinny and scrawny boy was better with girls than him.

"Satsuki, you haven't introduced Tetsuya yet," said Akashi, his voice seemingly tight and particularly icy.

Noticing this, Momoi quickly let go of the blunette before returning to her previous task. "T-that's right, I almost forgot! Kagami-kun," the said male looked up. "this is Kuroko Tetsuya. He is also 18 years old."

Kagami looked at her, surprised. "No extra information, like his birthday or his blood type?"

Momoi just laughs.

Kuroko held out his hand across the table for Kagami to shake. "It's nice meeting you."

Kagami was quick to return the gesture. "Same here. Hope you don't mind me asking, but what's your power. Something along the lines of invisibility probably?"

Kuroko just hums. "What about you Kagami-kun?"

"Me?" Puffing his chest out, Kagami continued. "Why, I have the power of enhanced reflexes and agility."

Kuroko nodded, happy that Kagami easily took the bait. "That's very impressive Kagami-kun."

Kagami obviously agreed seeing how he continued with his story. "I was running away from some bastards that decided it'd be fun to chase me. I could take them, but the crazy son of a bitches had knives on them. I had to get outta there. I was running away when I noticed that everything around me was a blur. I stop suddenly, only to find myself at the opposite side of the city near the boundaries."

"When did this happen?" asked Momoi. Only she, Kuroko, Akashi and Himuro seemed to be paying attention. Midorima was trying to figure out how to put up his utensil while wearing these huge cat paws with Takao aiding him, Murasakibura lazily eating his snacks and Kise and Aomine still fighting.

"Around two months ago? A doctor from here saw me jumping 10 meters into the air trying to get something out of a tree. A few days later, I'm here in the asylum."

"It must have been very shocking for you to find out that Himuro-kun also went here," stated Kuroko.

"Yeah, you could say that,"

A cough from Akashi drew Kuroko's attention. He leaned back down to sit on the bench and for the first time this morning, looked at Akashi.

"Are you okay Seijuurou? That was a rather loud cough," Kuroko had no doubt in mind that Akashi was perfectly healthy, but he knew the red head was jealous of Kagami for reasons beyond Kuroko's understanding. If the constant glares the red head sent weren't proof enough.

The said male's face suddenly lit up and looked too smug to Kuroko.

"Just some water that went down the wrong pipe."

Before Kuroko could nod and turn back to the table, Akashi suddenly leaned over, his lips dangerously close to Kuroko's face. A small smirk graced his features as he placed a quick yet gentle kiss on Kuroko's cheek.

"But thank you for worrying, love"

And with that, Akashi stood up with his tray full off empty dishes and walked away.

Kuroko couldn't even hear the squeals of the people sitting at the table with him.

Akashi just kissed him, and for once, Kuroko didn't care about what the people around him thought.

**XXXXXXX**

"Find a way you fucktards! What the hell am I giving you fucking money for if you don't do your damn jobs!"

The poor souls who worked under the screeching man winced at the volume and continued to finish their man finally, after many hours, walked up to his pacing superior and cleared his throat, catching the other's attention.

"What?" he snarled.

Intimidated, the meek man quickly gave his boss the paper in his hands. "This is the basic layout of the asylum our watchers could gather. Their security is otherworldly and extremely tight. We will only have a brief interval of time to perform the plan."

"But a few minutes is all we need." The man smiled to himself while giving the paper a brief once over. "Tell the agents to depart this afternoon. The longer we wait, the longer we run the risk of failing."

The man shivered. "And the last thing I want is a bullet through my head."

**XXXXXXX**

Happiness never lasts forever my dear prisoners, no matter how much you wish it to.

_I tear apart love and family, but preserve friendship._

_**That's it for now guys! I hope you enjoyed it and again sorry for any grammar mistakes there. I don't know if I'll go back to proof-read, but probably not. **_

_**Also, I cannot promise a somewhat solid posting schedule until the end of June, but that doesn't mean I won't try to post a chapter before then!**_

_**See all of you guys in the next chapter and don't forget to leave a review! They're my cookies, I eat them with milk!**_

_**-BrokenWings66**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Once again, as usual, please pardon grammatical errors you see!**

It was boring.

For the past couple of centuries, nothing new seemed to pass through and everything else was either already used or just simply not entertaining enough.

Leaning down, apathetic fingers picked up a wriggling worm making its way through the garden. It squirmed and curled in protest of its sudden capture, unaware of the bored, dull eyes staring at it.

Slowly, the worm was raised higher into the air, closer to the burning odyssey surrounded by its pale, wispy whores that magnetize toward him in a never ending cycle.

Crickets screamed their profanities to the open air while birds boasted of their freedom in the sky, only to fall silent when they return once more to the cursed lands beneath. The lone howl of an unknown creature rang in the humid space, the aria earning only pity from the ears of those who acknowledged her cry.

And then there was silence.

Neither the wind nor water dared break the deafening quiet that had befallen. The blasphemous words of the insects were swallowed along with the glory hymns of the winged creatures.

Looking up from the still struggling creature caught between his fingers, the man scanned his surroundings. Confusion was hidden beneath a flawless poker face. Baffled eyes searched for any indication of the reason behind the unusual silence. After what felt as an eternity of silence, the euphonic sounds of the seven sins played once again.

Brows furrowing, the man quickly tossed the worm into his mouth, chewing it down to nothing more than poisonous paste and sending it down his digestive track. He propped himself up to a sitting position on the rock he was previously lying on, unclear emotions swimming within the depths of his irises.

"Something is coming," he whispered, the words almost drowned out by the surrounding noise. Face falling to a frown, the man detangles his legs and pushes off from the rock, landing on the drenched land with a vile squelch.

Without batting an eye, the man walked forward, disregarding the cherry color his shoes were being stained. Animals with glowing eyes and glistening fangs scurried away in fear of the approaching human-no, _monster. _Predators left the carcasses of their meal in the dust, running away to safety.

Soon, only the crimson stained grass and spike-mounted heads remained in the clearing. The man continued his way through his "garden", stopping at the lone head he placed specially at the centre of the sanguinary exhibit. Leaning close to the decomposing face of the beheaded male, the man stroked the rotting flesh near the maggot infested empty sockets where glorious pale blue eyes once proudly sat.

The poor male hadn't done anything wrong in his life. He was a nice man, born and raised in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Third Heaven, one of the three countries in Eden. He had an ordinary family. A loving mother who cooked the best pot roast, a father who worked as a lawyer and his slightly younger sister who would join him in ogling pretty girls that past by them when they were hormonal teenagers.

He was on his way home to eat dinner with his family when next thing he knew, he was staring at his headless body on the ground before everything faded to black.

It was a pity that the young male never did find out why he was beheaded.

"You weren't worthy," murmured the man, removing his hand from the deteriorating stump.

Moving on, the man continued through the gruesome garden until he finally reached the open field. The stench of decaying corpses wafted through the air, but the man didn't seem to notice. He has spent too much time in this place to be disgusted by the smell.

But even then, what artist would be disgusted by their own masterpiece?

Lifting his hand, the man made a diagonal cut through the air. The space distorted before a rip appeared, behind it a pitch black void. Looking back at the bloody field behind him, the man whispered the name of the person who gave him this world to rule, to destroy. Turning around once more, the man walked through the rip, sealing it behind him.

_Onii-sama_…

**XXXXXXX**

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I dare say that you _almost_ look happy. Imagine that! The great rock of Teiko asylum is happy! "

Kuroko raised a slender eyebrow. "Are you implying that I do not have feelings Mayuzumi-sensei?"

The grey-haired doctor peered at the younger over the top of his light novel. "You do? I always just assumed that you were a sociopath."

Kuroko hummed. "Well then I do believe that you should actually take notes whenever we have our weekly sessions instead of reading those fantasy novels of yours."

"I'll stick with my novels thank you very much."

A comfortable silence befell on the two shadows. Kuroko closed his eyes and drifted off to the lullaby of the ticking clock.

Mayuzumi Chihiro was a psychiatrist at Teiko and also a former patient. He was a brilliant doctor, but the reason as to why he chose to work at the asylum instead of somewhere bigger in the real world remained a mystery.

Whenever Kuroko asked him, the older would simply say "Life's not fun if I have to hide my powers from everyone. Besides, I wouldn't be able to play pranks without there being some sort of serious repercussion."

The blue haired male didn't know how to feel with the other's explanation, but it wasn't his business, therefore he never pushed the question further. Actually, the grey haired doctor had the ability that most mistaken Kuroko's for, invisibility.

Sometimes, the blunette really had a hard time believing that the man sitting across from him was considered a psychological genius. Some sessions, all Mayuzumi would do was complain about his powers.

"What's the point if I can't turn my clothes invisible!? Why do I have to be completely naked to be completely invisible?"

"I still make noise when I'm invisible. I STILL can't sneak up on Izuki-sensei. Fuck that man and his stupid sense of sight and hearing."

"Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to control when I am and not being invisible?"

"Do you…"

"Why can't I…"

"If only…"

Blah blah blah blah blah.

Usually, that was when Kuroko started using one of his favourite trinkets that he bought in Daedalus. It's this neuro transmitter that once you turn on, lets you stream a pre-downloaded library. While the other person thinks you are listening, you can actually be watching a music video or your favourite movie. It's come in handy more often than not for the blunette.

"Did you finally get laid?"

Snapping back to reality, Kuroko blinked a few times to process what was just said.

"That's a rather blunt question Mayuzumi-sensei,"

The older shrugged. "But it's effective. It asks the question without beating around the bush."

"It is the question,"

"Not the point, the point is whether or not you got laid."

"Laid is such an uncivilized term. I much prefer sexual intercourse or simply, sex."

"Now now Tetsuya, when did you become a tea drinker?"

"I find that a rather interesting stereotype of this world. I asked Ciel what was like in London and he said that while foreigners believe that the British are gentlemen like figures, in truth, everyone just swears like a sailor. Apparently some men even go out as far as to cat call a random woman passing by. It's quite disrespectful actually. Though I was told quite the funny story of how-"

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Just go along with my jokes Tetsuya, please. No one likes a smart-ass."

"Mayuzumi-sensei, I understand that your glasses are mainly just for reading," Kuroko gestured to the pair of lenses resting on the bridge of Mayuzumi's nose. "But you may wish to consider a stronger prescription if you believe I am a donkey. I do have confidence in saying that I am of the homo-sapiens species."

Sighing, Mayuzumi leaned back into his chair. "And it seems you still have a mastery of changing the subject. You aren't the type to shy away from such subjects, Tetsuya. Did something else happen?"

Kuroko masked his nervousness. "No I have not had sex with anyone here. Are there any more questions? I do believe there are only another five minutes left."

"Just one,"

"Then ask."

"I already have,"

Kuroko bit the inside of his cheek. Why on earth did his weekly appointment _have_ to be on the day that Akashi decided to be in a sharing mood?

"No, nothing else of significance happened." A small white lie never hurt anyone. Besides, it was such a sunny day outside, who would notice it?

"Of heavy significance or not, it is still my job to know what is going on in your life Tetsuya. I _do _have a degree in psychiatry after all."

Unless you were looking through a window while sitting in a dark room. Then, anyone could see it.

"I do find it curious that you implore me of my social life now of all times,"

"Stop avoiding the question Tetsuya."

"I have no idea what you are talking about Mayuzumi-sensei."

The two shadows continued to have a stare down as the atmosphere grew thicker by the second.

Suddenly, Mayuzumi sighed almost inaudibly, but the sag of his body gave it away. "Alright Tetsuya, I won't push you. You can tell me when you want." The older opened a drawer on his desk and pulled out a notepad, opening it to a new page and writing down some notes. Kuroko knew when the doctor was just trying to trick him into saying something by just doodling in the notepad, and he knew that Mayuzumi was actually writing words this time.

Kuroko also knew that Mayuzumi was aware of his ability to tell the difference of when he was and wasn't bullshitting the other.

Groaning internally, Kuroko realized that his actions probably just assured either more sessions or more pills, or _something_ more. If there was one thing that all of the staff at the asylum weren't, it would be half-assed.

"Well, that puts our little session together to an end, doesn't it?" Kuroko flashed a quick peek at the clock to see that indeed, the session was over.

Standing up, the blunette gave a small bow to the older before quietly exiting the office. Once in the hallway, Kuroko leaned against the wall and blew out a long stream of air, cleaning out all of the tension in his lungs. Mayuzumi would definitely pester him about this in their future sessions, but first Kuroko needed to make sure that his face wasn't as hot as it felt.

**XXXXXXXX**

Crystalline water lapped at the white sand shore. Tall, luscious trees provided homes to multiple species and beautiful Kodak moments.

The peaceful silence was suddenly disturbed by a large portal appearing in the middle of the beach, a man clad in black with scarlet shoes stepping out of it.

Looking around, the man took a deep breath in and then released it.

"Not here either," he murmured. Pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper and a pen, the man crossed out the word EDEN on his list. That made a total of four crossed out names on the list. The man's eyes drifted to the top of the list where in the same handwriting as the other names, the word DEFAULT was written.

His stomach curled slightly, with what, he wasn't sure. Quickly shaking his head, the man pushed his unnecessary worry aside.

"There's no way." he muttered, quickly disappearing the same way he entered, the waves erasing all evidence of his presence.

**XXXXXXX**

Kuroko once again found himself within the comforting confines of his room. Way back in the corner of his mind, he wondered for how long the staff would let him stay in this room before forcefully moving him to the adult ward.

Already most of the people he knew had transferred rooms already. Midorima, Takao, Momoi, Akashi…

Speaking of Akashi, the blunette couldn't find the redhead. He hasn't seen the other since breakfast and curiosity was getting the better of him.

Rolling himself onto his bed, Kuroko groaned into his pillow. When did he become so concerned about Akashi's whereabouts? Was that considered "normal" in an ordinary relationship? Should Kuroko consider his and Akashi's relationship "ordinary"? The fact that both of them are male isn't a reason in Kuroko's eyes for their relationship to be considered strange. Of course, now that every other patient in Teiko knows of it (because gossip travels _fast_), there will be quite a few that will find their relationship "immoral" or "disgusting" and other derogatory adjectives. It's to be expected of course. But from what Kuroko has so far experienced in the hallways, either from wondering around or heading to his session today, patients here have experienced the cruelties of humankind. Their misconceptions, their greed, their lust. Many patients either just don't care, accept it, or just come to the notion that being in a homosexual relationship is not that most horrendous thing in the world, if it qualifies to be called "horrendous" in the first place.

Naturally, Akashi and Kuroko weren't the only couple of the same sex. Another couple, Krista and Ymir, were openly in a gay relationship and everyone's reaction was pretty much the same. Also, pretty much everyone who hung around them could tell there was something going on between Murasakibura and Himuro, Midorima and Takao (because why the hell else would Takao stick around?), and although it wasn't completely clear, Aomine and Kise.

Kuroko went through the traumatic experience of catching the navy haired idiot making out with the blonde in a deserted hallway. He had forgotten something in his room and left to go get it, only to be greeted by the EXTREMELY disturbing sight. Before they could notice his presence, Kuroko rushed back to the cafeteria, again scaring everyone at his table.

The blunette didn't pose any questions to the idiot couple, well, he wasn't sure if _couple_ would be a proper term. Both members of the _partnership_ were well known for having many no strings attached relationships and being satisfied with just that. Kuroko figured that it'd be best to let the two of them figure it out themselves. But he just can't help but notice the subtle looks Aomine shoots at Kise when the blonde isn't looking and vice versa.

What about Akashi? Has he had any or rather, how many relationships has he had in the past?

Questions began to pile up into Kuroko's mind, frustrating the young man to no end. Sighing, the blunette realized he didn't take a shower before going to breakfast. Maybe that would help clear his cluttered mind.

Rummaging through his drawers, Kuroko gathered his clean change of clothes and a towel. He spared a quick glance at his clock. A good half-hour remained until the bell signifying lunch would ring. Plenty of time.

Snatching his plastic container holding his shampoo and other washes, Kuroko left his room and continued down the familiar path to the shower rooms.

**XXXXXXX**

"How much longer?"

"At least 15 minutes. The target just entered the shower rooms."

"Inform me when he leaves."

"Yes sir."

**XXXXXXX**

If there was one thing that Kuroko was thankful of, it was the fact that never once has someone ever accidently opened the curtain to his shower stall. Though people might not see his figure when showering, they acknowledge the notion that if a shower is running, someone's in there.

Buttoning up his shirt, Kuroko didn't bother tucking in his polo before shrugging on a slim black waistcoat and matching sleek black shorts that stopped just before his knee caps. He ran his fingers through his damp hair to temporarily tame it and with his stuff, left the shower room.

Walking down the hallway, Kuroko was about to turn left to take his usual shortcut back to his room. The shortcut also brought him along the large glass windows that revealed the luscious trees that surrounded the asylum. Kuroko was rather fond of the view, but there was this little nagging in the back of his head. Ignoring the warning bells going off in his head, Kuroko continued down his usual path, the thoughts of dancing oak trees drowning out the sirens.

**XXXXXXX**

"The target is approaching the designated area sir."

"Good." A revolting smile made its way onto the superior's face. "Let's not waste any more time. Commence Operation Bridge way."

**XXXXXXX**

Kuroko didn't even see it coming.

One moment he was looking out at the pretty scenery before him, the next moment, he was thrown against the wall, shattered fragments of glass piercing through his pale skin. His head painfully collided with the wall, causing everything to become slightly blurred and a loud ringing to throb through his ears.

Vaguely, the blunette acknowledged the presence of around three dark figures surrounding his fallen body. Gathering what control he still had over his body, Kuroko managed to roll himself out of the way of a sudden dagger, now embed in the carpeted floor where his head once laid.

Quickly pushing himself up, Kuroko managed to take three steps away before his neck was grabbed and was reunited with the wall. A small pained gasp made its way past his lips. Kuroko was not a violent person by nature, and his powers were not exactly of a battling type. But, there were times that his powers came in handy, such as now.

Kicking the stranger that held his body against the wall, Kuroko dashed into a corner. Before another dagger could be thrown at his disorientated body, he activated a small temporary force field around himself, courtesy of the standard Daedalun safety kit for stranger danger that he always kept on him. It was quite handy, seeing how most Daedalun products could by stored on the bracelet issued by the Daedalun government.

Gathering his scattered mind, Kuroko tentatively brought his hand near his temple. Hissing at the sudden jolt of pain, the blunette looked down at his hand to see that it was now covered in blood. He must've broken the skin after being thrown into the wall.

Kuroko took this time to focus on the three people dressed in black before him, now desperately trying to break through the barrier. The ringing eventually died down as it was replaced by the sounds of the attackers' useless attempts to reach Kuroko. None of their faces were visible, hidden behind ski masks, but Kuroko was fairly sure he had never met any of them before. In fact, despite his rather gruesome past, Kuroko didn't have many, if any, enemies. The possible people who could hold a grudge against him either aren't even aware of his existence, have long since given up or are dead.

Looking to the ceiling, Kuroko saw that the alarm still hadn't rung. These people, whoever they were, must have been professionals, seeing how they hacked the security system. Kuroko found himself slightly impressed by their abilities, despite his current situation. Like he said before, if there was something Teiko asylum wasn't, it would be half-assed. That applied to _everything._

Minutes passed, and the blunette's racing heartbeat finally slowed down, allowing the full force of his injuries to hit him. His head was now pounding while his skin burned as small shards of glass remained embedded in his flesh. He could feel the blood running down his cheek, dripping onto his clothes. Kuroko prided himself on his ability to be able to withstand large amounts of pain, yet with his current situation of three strangers trying to break the barrier, Akashi finally agreeing to be his boyfriend, Mayuzumi finally giving a fuck, messing up his time dial, things seemed a bit too heavy to bottle inside. Soft groans of pain escaped his lips before his could catch himself, his thoughts gathering too much of his concentration.

However, after only the sounds of Kuroko's whimpers and the dull _thuds_ of weapons hitting the shield, a small beeping noise caught the blunette's attention. Kuroko looked up, his stomach plummeting when he read the tall bold words of **WARNING** flashing on the interior of the shield. Weakly, Kuroko gently pressed the flashing sign, only for a small blurb to replace it stating that the shield would only remain in place for the next three minutes due to the strain of repelling the continuous attacks.

Gulping slowly, Kuroko's mind raced to think of an escape plan. Fighting back was clearly not the smartest option seeing how these people appear to be trained professionals and Kuroko couldn't even run for five minutes straight, let alone stand against trained fighters.

Suddenly, a brilliant idea popped into his head. He could just easily escape to another world! Cursing himself for not thinking of it earlier, Kuroko backed towards the edges of the shield. Lifting his hand, he quickly swiped it across the floor, the space rippling for a second before a tear in the dimension appeared.

Smiling softly to himself, Kuroko lifted his foot so he could drop through the portal feet first when something unthinkable happened.

His foot bounced back.

Trying again, Kuroko was met with the same result. Desperate, he tried pushing against the tear with his hands, knees and arms. But no matter what he did, the blunette couldn't do it.

He couldn't pass through the portal.

Dread coiled itself around the frantic pounding of Kuroko's heart.

This had happened only twice before, and both times Kuroko never really made a solution. He just pushed it aside for the reason of the glitch never occurred often.

Because honestly, it's not often that someone else was using the portals to travel from world to world.

Panic and fear began to grow within Kuroko as the words _I'm going to die_ repeated over and over again in his head. Kuroko has been in worst situations, whether or not you believe it. But the thing that makes those times from now was that back then, he was still whole.

He wasn't only a half, but instead complete.

But now, it is near impossible for him to be whole once more. He made the decision to become fragmented for the sake of the safety of others and to try to pursue a normal life. That was a decision he could not go back on or reverse, not matter how many nights he went to sleep with tears threatening to fall due to the void he now felt within him.

The shield beeped out a one minute warning, forcing Kuroko to once again focus on his situation at hand. Taking a deep breath, the blunette closed the portal, noticing that the barrage of attacks from the strangers had stopped. Instead, they just stood before him, unmoving.

The silence terrified Kuroko, for he had no idea what they were planning. He brought up his wrist and searched on his bracelet for any more things that could possibly save him. A small circle of light floated above his wrist, and the blunette reached inside it, only to pull out a small black Taser. Playing around with the object for a few seconds, the blunette figured out how to safely turn on and off the device. However, in a last minute decision, Kuroko returned the device back to the bracelet. There was no need for him to fight back.

Collecting his thoughts, Kuroko reached into his trouser pockets and pulled out a coin. Smiling softly to himself, Kuroko calmed down once more as he chuckled. He laughed at himself for forgetting one of his most unforgettable qualities, misdirection.

Never once had it failed him (Kuroko did not consider the fact that Akashi noticed him naturally a failure because he never tried intentionally to use misdirection on the redhead), and the currently blank blunette knew it wouldn't fail him now.

A single beep signaled that the force field was no longer in place, leaving the boy alone with his attackers.

Aquamarine fringe blocked his eyes, but Kuroko didn't need to look up to verify that all of the strangers were staring at him. He could feel their burning gazes.

Before one of the attackers could even lift their arm, the distinct clink of a coin landing on the cold tile floor faded to the background noise as shock set in.

He was gone.

**XXXXXXX**

Stumbling down the hall, Kuroko looked behind him, making sure that the three strangers weren't following.

Voices from further up the hall alerted Kuroko of people ahead of him. Kuroko stopped moving and leaned against the wall for support, still recovering from the short sprint he performed minutes ago. Tiredly, Kuroko watched with dry eyes the way three teenagers were approaching him, two of them deep in conversation while the third just listened.

"-transfers from Korea."

"Really? When are they supposed to be arriving?"

"Apparently next week. I wonder if any of them are cute, all the boys 'round here are too familiar of faces."

The other snorted. "Amen to that. But before you go flirting with them foreigners, shouldn't you at least learn the language? English is the only tongue you speak, aside from the small garbles of Japanese you taught yourself."

The previous girl huffed. "Well most people here are at least bilingual. Surely they would learn how to speak English eventually."

"Yes, but what if they don't wish to learn English or they just lack in linguistic abilities? Remember, we _do_ have Korean doctors here. You even had a crush on Dr. Kim last week. Called him Seokjin-oppa and everything,"

"Come now, allow some room to dream,"

"If you want to dream, dream about something more unrealistic, such as ever getting a boyfriend."

The trio burst into a fit of laughter, walking right past the bleeding blunette.

Staying the same position until the voices were no longer audible, Kuroko scoffed. What was he expecting? For people to all of a sudden see him and become best buddies with the world?

Reluctantly, Kuroko pushed himself off the wall and continued down the hallway, ignoring the small stings of needles of forgotten emotions piercing his heart.

**XXXXXXX**

"What do you mean he disappeared!?"

The man winced as he pulls his dangling earpiece even farther from his already sore eardrums. "Exactly that sir. One moment he was sitting in front of us, the next, he was gone."

"Well then what the hell do you fucktards think you're doing?! What do you think you are being paid for? Go and find him you idiots! You only have ten minutes left before the alarm goes off, and if it does and you shitheads are still in the building, you're dead."

The man released a soundless sigh. "Yes sir."

**XXXXXXX**

Frustrated, the last name was crossed out. A thick, angry black line covered the handwriting of the name of the last dimension on the list.

Roughly kicking a stray rock ahead, the man pondered on where the disturbance was coming from. Everywhere he had checked, nothing was amiss. The natural life was still free and untainted.

There was no catastrophe taking place, no imbalance amongst the worlds, no renegade portals. Nothing was wrong.

Everywhere he had checked, everywhere was perfect. Looking down at his list once more, the man scanned its contents, hoping that some sort of clue would appear. Slowly his eyes went from the bottom to the top, where one name remained, still uncrossed. Dread pooled in the pit of his being.

He thought he had checked everywhere, and technically he had.

Everywhere but one.

**XXXXXXX**

_I am his salvation and his destruction._

**Hi guys,**

**so i managed to write a little piece of this chapter each day until i finished and here i am~! Also, SCHOOL'S FINALLY DONE!**  
**I HAVE SURVIVED ANOTHER YEAR!**  
**My life is happy now :)**

**Also, if you spot the cameos, tell me in the comments (they're really obvious if you like the fandom. But even if you just like manga and anime in general, you will still probably get them.) AND BONUS POINTS FOR THE PERSON WHO IS ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THE BOYBAND KPOP GROUP I AM OBSESSED WITH BECAUSE UGH, "DOPE/****쩔어****" KILLED ME. (once again, if you know the fandom, it's really obvious. i suck at being subtle)**

**Reviews give me life!**

**-BrokenWings66**


	6. Chapter 5

**IMPORTANT NOTE PLEASE READ: well, it's not that important i just wanted to make sure guys realized that this is a double update, yay! This is the first chapter of said double update, so just read on from here! That's it, hope you enjoy and my grammar probably sucks and i should work on it, but for please pardon any errors you see**

If someone was to tell you that Akashi Seijuuro was smiling, they would requests for your psychiatrist to make your sessions more frequent (because who aside from fellow asylum patients know who THE Akashi Seijuuro is). It just simply was something people believed to be impossible of the man, and honestly, it wasn't really something they were eager to see. There was a very high chance that if you did see it, the likelihood of you surviving the next few days would be slim.

Very slim.

So imagine Shuzo Nijimura's suspicion when his most callous, apathetic, heartless and blood thirsty patient came walking through his doors looking all too pleased with himself.

As soon as the redhead had taken a seat, the concerned doctor leaned forward, resting his elbows on the mahogany desk before him.

"Is there a particular reason you look so happy today Akashi-kun?"

Akashi just continued smiling. "Is it a sin for me to smile doctor? Surely even I am allowed to have my moments."

Nijimura raised an eyebrow. "Of course not Akashi-kun, I am simply curious of what put you in such a good mood. After all, it isn't everyday which you step into my office grinning."

The content redhead just hummed in response, clearly paying the doctor no mind and fiddled with the unsolved rubix cube.

Frowning at the lack of response, Nijimura concludes that something worthy of note must've happened to cause the actually pleasant emotion to reign over Akashi's usually stoic features.

"Well then, did someone do something to get you into this pleasant state of mind?"

Smirking, the red head halted his movements and placed the now solved rubix cube back onto the desk. Easing back into the comfortable leather chair, Akashi leveled out Nijimura's stare before donning on the creepy grin everyone assumed his smiling face looked like.

"Funny you should ask that…."

**XXXXXXX**

As silently as possible, Kuroko inched down the corridor, trying his best not to make a sound. Step by step, the blunette tiptoed his way behind the intruders. By an unfortunate stroke of misfortune, Kuroko ran into his attackers once more as he was making his way to the main lobby where he could inform security of the uninvited guests.

Covering his mouth with his hand, Kuroko slid along the wall, now only a few inches apart from the mysterious men draped in black. From where he stood, the blunette could vaguely make out the features of the three intruders. At first glance, he thought that the three people were all male, yet upon closer inspection it became clear that one of the three was in fact a female. Her features were well concealed, probably with the help of gauze to bind her chest amongst other tactics.

However without a doubt the other two were male. Broad shoulders and firm sharp jawlines could be salvaged through the fabric. Strategically strapped to their limbs were small daggers sheathed in black leather. Kuroko wasn't able to see any empty sheaths, so he assumed that they retrieved the daggers they had thrown at him during their first encounter.

Now halfway past them, the three suddenly halted in their movements. As to not run the risk of alerting them of his presence Kuroko stilled as well. The man closest to him (yes it was a man. The woman stood between the two males) raised his hand and scanned his surroundings.

Kuroko was mildly surprised they couldn't hear the stampede occurring in his chest as the man looked over his head and leaned in. However, just before the back of Kuroko's hand could brush against the man's chest, he backed off, seemingly hearing something.

Taking his chance, Kuroko moved until finally, he was facing the backs of the three intruders. About to scurry away to the main lobby, Kuroko heard what the intruders must've caught before him.

Footsteps.

With wide eyes, the blunette watched as a group of boys, the eldest being no older than thirteen, turned the corner, laughing and chattering in a foreign language that in the back of his head Kuroko identified as Thai. One of the boys spotted the three intruders who all this time still hadn't moved, and stopped. Due to the abrupt and unplanned stop, a few boys who were directly behind the now scared child ran into him and all four of them fell to the floor in a heap of limbs.

Worried, Kuroko's eyes darted between the three intruders and the now staring group of boys unfortunately caught up in the mess.

A heavy silence befell in the hallway. Kuroko could practically see the gears turning in the boys' eyes. They were obviously confused because no staff ever wore black uniforms and masks were strictly prohibited.

"W-Who are you?"

A heavily accented yet timid voice broke through the deafening silence. The oldest of the boys had stood up, courageous enough to question the strangers in the universal language, English.

As expected, the strangers didn't answer and instead remained still. One of the smaller boys was tugging on the pant sleeve of the eldest boy, muttering something in Thai. Shushing the younger, the eldest gently pushed him behind his figure. Kuroko had to give the boy props for his bravery, but if the attackers chose to pursue them, no amount of bravery could save them.

Cursing in his mind, Kuroko slowly edged forward, preparing himself to distract the three intruders should something happen. Despite not being able to do much at the moment, the blunette wouldn't be able to find it within himself to just stand there and do nothing.

"I-I have never seen y-you here before. You aren't part of this institution, are you?"

It came out more as a statement rather than a question, but Kuroko doubted the reaction would be any different. The intruders immediately grabbed for their weapons, but before they could even think about throwing them, Kuroko whipped out the Taser he put aside earlier and jammed into the spine of the female attacker. With a blank face, Kuroko watched with apathetic eyes as the woman convulsed before falling to the ground. He turned around to face the boys, all of them still frozen with shock.

"RUN!" Kuroko screamed, probably the loudest he's ever raised his voice ever since he came to the asylum. His brain seemed to not feel very helpful in the whole ordeal as it commented as that was the only English word he's spoken in a long time.

They didn't need a reminder. Kuroko was able to watch them begin to run before a white hot pain bloomed along the side of his face and was thrown back by the sheer force of the punch. Staggering, the blunette gingerly held his cheek and stared right at the now enraged intruder, his eyes blazing with fury as their third companion knelt by their fallen comrade's side.

Pain burned across Kuroko's face as the wound on his head began to bleed again. The disgusting taste of iron rested on Kuroko's tongue as he spat out a wad of bloody saliva. Kuroko's eyes barely registered the form of the attacker coming closer to him until he was merely an arm's length away. Curses, or what Kuroko assumed were curses, were bellowed at him in a language that was either Dutch or German and clearly should've terrified him. But strangely enough, a small smile made its way onto his bloody lips as yet another punch was thrown at him. Collapsing to the ground, Kuroko's mind goes hazy and on instinct alone, his arms came up to shield his head as the breath was kicked out of him, again, again and again.

The smile never left his lips as scarlet liquid spewed forth, coughed onto the ground before him. Even a single twitch erupted a tsunami of agony, but the smile never moved. Even when Kuroko's torso, legs and arms were covered in paintings of red blue and purple, the smile never left, and neither did the barrage.

It took a while but eventually, Kuroko noticed that the kicks had stopped. Weakly, he lowered his arms, biting back the whimpers of pain that threatened to spill. Through tear laden eyes, Kuroko was able to make out the watery forms of two of the intruders, one restraining and yelling at the one that had come close to beating the life out of the blunette.

Panic overrode the pain as Kuroko saw one of them reach for a gun began walking in the direction where the boys had escaped.

Small no's slipped through his broken wheezes as he slowly attempted to sit up. His arms screamed in protest, pain gnawed at every fiber in his bones, but Kuroko forced himself to think otherwise. But his efforts were put down in the form of a blunt, patterned and heavy boot striking the low of his back. Pain shot up his spine and Kuroko only managed to release a short gasp before he slammed back down to the ground. His innards felt as if a thousand knives were continuously stabbing it, carving them into a dinner worthy enough for Death. His throat felt clogged as he tried to breathe, coughing up another round of blood, watching it splatter against the smooth tiles of the ground and staining them scarlet.

The boot ground into Kuroko's lower back, pained gasps leaving his mouth as the man above him spoke to him in what Kuroko finally decided as Dutch, so close to English but not quite. Smile gone and wet eyes roaming, Kuroko saw the figure of the woman still lying on the ground unconscious, but the other man was gone. The same panic filled the blunette's veins as he realized he couldn't find the third man. Terrified, the images of the poor boys, bloody and cold, appeared in his barely functioning mind.

Subconsciously, Kuroko's finger slowly made a diagonal line of his blood in front of his head, his eyes lazily following it. Before the man above him could realize it, the two of them plummeted into the dark abyss of the portal.

**XXXXXXX**

Akashi hummed as he made his way to the cafeteria for lunch. To his right, Midorima and Takao stood talking to each other. The three of them just returned from the game room where he and Midorima played a pleasant yet boring game of shogi.

Shogi was a game that Akashi had played ever since he was a young boy. His grandfather had taught him how to play it before the elder was admitted to the hospital. Even after the old man was admitted, and then eventually moved to the hospice, Akashi continued to play game after game with his grandfather, even when the elder could no longer remain conscious. Even after his grandfather stopped waking up, Akashi just sat in his room and played against himself pretending it was his grandfather sitting across from him.

Needless to say the fate of the game was already determined as soon as Midorima sat down.

Mindless chatter filled cafeteria as Akashi walked in. People moved out of line, halting in their movements and allowed Akashi, Midorima and Takao to get their food without interruption. The three came upon the lunch lady who stood straight behind the counter.

Grinning, Akashi set his plate down and swiped his card. He worked silently and Midorima followed in suite. Takao swiped his card and gave the lunch lady a cheery farewell.

"We should get together with Akashi more often, shouldn't we Shin-chan?"

Midorima scoffed and pushed up his glasses with his free hand. "You just like getting the food faster. Try thinking with your head more Takao. It might rust and break down after so many years of disuse."

Somehow, Takao's eyes seemed to sparkle. "Shin-chan, you care about my mental health? Thank you, I love you too!"

Midorima sputtered in denial, but his red ears gave it away. Akashi rolled his eyes.

_Tsunderes._

Sitting down, Akashi looked around for his favorite blunette amongst the crowd.

Tik

Tok

Tik

Tok

Tik

Tok

Akashi frowned, food still untouched. Kuroko was not the type of person to be tardy. He never arrived late to anything, whether it was an appointment or simply breakfast. Obviously he didn't do it out of hunger as he never ate more than a quarter of a plate of food. Akashi liked to believe that Kuroko was simply a punctual person.

Now Akashi wouldn't say he was _worried_ about Kuroko, but rather curious of his current location and state. After all, this was an asylum full of crazy people with supernatural powers. And as embarrassing as it was for Akashi, he didn't know what Kuroko's power was. It frustrated him to no end every day, the temptation to ask but the fear of rejection. He didn't want to think that Kuroko didn't trust him.

Scanning the area once more, Akashi looked at the rest sitting at the table.

"Have any of you seen Tetsuya?"

Kise looked up. "You mean he isn't sitting next to you right now?"

Akashi easily gave in to the urge to roll his eyes. "That much is clear seeing how there is an empty space next to me."

Kagami opened his mouth to retort, but one quick glare was plenty to change his mind. After spending little over a week with Akashi has taught him many things, such as never, NEVER, talked back or say a sarcastic comment.

"Do you think that his appointment with Mayuzumi-sensei got extended for some reason?" questioned Momoi.

Aomine looked perplexed. "But why would it be extended? Nothing's happened that would seriously interest that perverted lazy ass of a doctor,"

Kise, who was sitting next to Aomine cooed. "Now look at you being all worried about our dear little Tetsu. But be careful, don't think too hard. We don't want you to hurt yourself."

The duo continued to argue and Akashi rubbed at his temple. The sexual tension between those two were really screwing up with his thinking. He shot a quick look at Takao, hoping he would do a repeat of a few weeks ago where he screamed "JUST FUCK ALREADY" at the idiot couple(?).

Sadly, the raven head was too busy fixing Midorima's sparkling pink tiara sitting rather glamorously on top of his green hair.

Kuroko wasn't freaking out and scarred about Akashi kissing him in front of everyone, was he? The red head felt the dread coil in his stomach. That wasn't possible, was it? Akashi was honestly just going with the flow and wanted to show everyone that Kuroko was his and no one else was allowed to touch him or else face his wrath. Surely Kuroko wouldn't hate him for that, would he?

Shaking his head slightly, Akashi pushed those thoughts away. Akashi Seijuuro NEVER regretted his actions. Everything that he did was perfect and justified.

Kuroko knew and understood that.

Right?

Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded within his head. Letting out a gasp, Akashi crumbled to the table top gripping his head. His single golden was ablaze, sweat slowly beginning to drip from his brow.

The worried voices of his seatmates were drowned out by the loud ringing blasting in his ears. Rarely did he get visions with such a drastic effect on him. Usually they would come and go peacefully, gently relaying the small snippet of the future before fading. Akashi thought he had them under control, regulating when he wanted to see a vision so that it didn't drive him completely insane (pun not intended) from the constant videos of the future playing in his head.

Panting, the red head squeezed his eyes shut hoping that it might help ease the pounding pain.

Suddenly, the pain disappeared along with the loud ringing. In fact, it was deathly silent. There wasn't a single sound aside from his loud inhales and exhales of air. Akashi raised his head, only to see a blank white landscape unique to his visions.

As if there was a projector behind him, a large video began playing in front of him. Akashi intently observed everything happening in front him.

_"Help!"_

_All of the heads turned to face the group of boys that came rushing through the cafeteria doors._

_"I-Intruders, inside the asylum. Quick, we have to call security a-and tell the doctors!"_

_Some of the patients rolled their eyes and continued with eating their breakfast._

_The one boy that was speaking the whole time had tears in his eyes as he continued to try to convince everyone else._

_Finally, someone got tired of his warnings._

_"Why come here? Why not go to the lobby and tell them there?"_

Was that Ymir? Shaking his head, Akashi pushed the thought to the back of his head.

_The boy had tears streaming down his face. "There is someone after us. He was shooting at us with a gun. We only managed to escape because Kunpimook here managed to trick him with illusions." Taking a deep breath he continued. "We were heading to the lobby but he intercepted us. This was the only room open that was close by. Please," silence once again reigned over the cafeteria. If Ymir was paying attention, so should they. "T-there was someone else, A-Another patient that distracted the intruders to help us escape. I h-haven't seen him anywhere a-and I think he is in danger,"_

_"Who?" Ymir asked, her voice softer._

_The boy shook his head. "I-I've seen him around in the hallways before, but I don't know his name. I didn't even notice that he was there until he tasered one of the intruders. H-he had light blue hair and matching eyes. He was short with pale skin."_

_Ymir continued to ask the boy more questions while Akashi stood up from his place at the table and rushed out the door, Momoi shouting at him to come back._

Akashi's eyes widened, realizing that the boy just an almost perfect physical description of Kuroko. He turned around, expecting the landscape to fade and soon return back to the real world, but another video began to play.

A soul chilling scream pierced his ears and Akashi whipped around, only to see a picture of Kuroko lying in a pool of his own blood.

Horrified, Akashi stood frozen on the spot. He vaguely took notice of the number beside the door Kuroko was lying in front of.

_236_

Suddenly, the landscape vanished and Akashi was back to reality, the worried eyes of everyone staring at him.

"Akashi?"

Akashi chose to ignore Midorima. His thoughts were going a million miles per second, all of them leading back to that chilling picture of Kuroko lying on the floor.

Suddenly, the cafeteria doors were slammed open.

**XXXXXXX**

**LOCATION: AVALON (REALM #7)**

Kuroko groaned as he felt soft green grass replace the cold tile floor. Looking at his surroundings, small fairies danced around in the air above his lying figure. A quick once over showed no presence of his attacker. That did nothing to comfort the still bleeding blunette.

A high pitched giggle caught his attention. His eyes slowly moved back to the front, only to come face to face with a fairy no more than five inches tall.

"You're hurt pretty bad Creator,"

A pain chuckle made its way past Kuroko's lips.

"So it seems," he croaked out. By the sympathetic look on the fairy's face, he looked just as bad as he felt.

"Don't worry, we'll patch you up right away. We don't like seeing Creator bleed,"

Kuroko made a quick note properly thank the fairies next time he came to Avalon.

The fairy transformed into a small ball of bright light and Kuroko closed his eyes as a warm feeling overtook his body and chased away the pain. Though the feeling of your bones snapping back into place wasn't exactly quite pleasant, Kuroko was too drunk on the mana to notice the temporary pain his body was facing.

Soon the warm feeling faded away and Kuroko opened his eyes and easily sat up. He looked around and saw at least forty different coloured lights floating around him. Smiling, he stood up and bowed.

"Thank you very much for helping me,"

A soft bell like sound danced in the wind, and Kuroko knew that was the fairies' way of say "you're welcome".

"By any chance, have you seen another man dressed in black come out of the portal with me?"

Another bell noise.

"Where is he?"

The lights formulated themselves into the shape of an arrow, the head pointing behind Kuroko.

Tense, Kuroko quickly opened another portal as he turned around, only to be tackled down and again everything went black as the two of them tumbled through the portal.

**XXXXXXX**

"Where are they?"

"U-uh, Alpha Two is currently down and unconscious, Alpha Three is in pursuit of people who walked in on the operation, and…."

"And? What about Alpha One?"

"H-He is, um, well, uh, we, we don't actually know…."

"You don't know?"

The employee quickly shook his head, fear clear in his eyes.

"And why is it that you don't know where he is?"

"Well, you see sir, one moment he is on radar with the target, next second, the both of them are gone,"

"Both of them?"

The employee winced. Crap, he shouldn't have said that.

"How much time?"

"P-Pardon?"

"I said how much more time until the alarm goes off dumbass!"

"Uh, um , t-two m-minutes,"

The man swore.

Either Alpha One completes the mission, wherever he might be, grabs Alpha Two and Alpha Three gives up pursuit right now, or else three of his best agents weren't going to make it.

**XXXXXXX**

Kuroko groaned again as he felt the familiar coldness of the asylum's tile floor. Pushing himself up right, the blunette looked around to find his attacker lying unconscious a few feet away from him. Looking around, Kuroko recognized himself to be in the hallways that lead directly to the lobby, numbered doors neatly lined along the walls.

_Rooms 230-242 _

Carefully walking away from the unmoving body of his attacker, Kuroko stood in front of the wall next to a door. Swiftly, he raised a finger and created a portal. But before Kuroko could even take one step into the dark abyss, a searing pain punctured the side of his head, ad Kuroko fell back down to the ground.

Screaming.

**XXXXXXX**

Akashi rushed past the cafeteria doors. Exactly according to his vision, the group of boys had rushed into the cafeteria. As soon as he heard the description of Kuroko, his body acted before his mind could catch up. And now here he stood, a few meters away from the cafeteria door facing a tall man dressed all in black. A gun pointed straight at him.

"I'm assuming that you are one of these _mysterious_ intruders that I have been hearing about lately?"

Akashi asked fluently in English, smirking as the man growled in response.

"**Get out of my way kid if you know what's good for you,"**

Akashi raised a slender eyebrow. "My apologies, but my Dutch is a bit rusty. I can understand what you are saying but I'm afraid that you'll just have to deal with me speaking English for now. Unless you speak Japanese, then that would be simply fantastic,"

"**This has nothing to do with you boy. Get out of my way. I'd prefer not to hurt an uninvolved civilian.**"

Akashi snorted. "And what, let you get to those boys? I may be cruel and heartless, but I do still have a conscious. I am perfectly aware of the fact that you are chasing them and somehow you have hurt my lover, so instead, I shall give _you_ a proposal. If you try to get past me and forcible enter the room, I will kill you. Slowly. However, if you choose instead to not attempt to pass me and tell me why you here, I promise to give a quick death."

The man snorted. "**I don't believe you are at liberty to make deals with me boy-**"

"And one more thing," interrupted Akashi. "Do not call me _boy_."

The man sneered at the red head. "**I can call you whatever I want to ****_boy_****. And I would love to see how an unarmed shortie such as yourself could possibly do anything. And a fucking disgusting ****_fag_**** at that.**"

Akashi felt his eyebrow twitch.

"**That's right, I noticed you said lover. We're talking about that blue haired midget, aren't we?**" The man smiled behind his mask. "**I had the immense pleasure of beating him to a bloody pulp, beating his whole body crimson, black and blue.**" The man cackled. "**Maybe even broke a few bones. But don't worry, I only landed a few punches on that pretty little face of his,**"

Akashi snapped.

He pounced on the man and threw a punch that surprisingly hit its mark. The attacker staggered back a bit, surprise displayed all over his features.

"**I guess I underestimated you boy-**"

This time the attacker managed to catch Akashi's fist and grabbed his wrist, slamming him against the wall.

The red head did no more than smirk, almost unaffected by the impact.

Annoyed, the man lunged in for a punch, yet Akashi swiftly dodged it, almost as if he had anticipated it. And the pattern continued. The man would attack and Akashi would dodge, swiftly and without a scratch.

Growing bored, Akashi side stepped the incoming punch and use his thrust to close the space between them. Slamming his fist into the man's face, a sickening crack brought a malicious grin to Akashi's features.

Bellows of agony filled the hall as the man clutched his broken nose, glaring at the nonchalant red head grinning down at him.

"**Fine then, I'll admit that you can throw quite a few good punches, but you'll need more than that to get through me boy.**"

Akashi just laughed. "I'm sorry, but do you know what type of place this institution is? Did your superior or boss or whatever inform you of what type of hellhole you were crawling into?"

The guarded look on the man's face said it all.

Akashi grinned. "Because I assure you," he held out one of his hands to the man, almost as if he intended to do a handshake. "I have _much_ more than you can even imagine."

The man's face paled as he watched Akashi's hand light and then get swallow in vibrant red hot flames.

And then there were screams.

**XXXXXXX**

Time slowed down as Kuroko slowly fell to the ground. He managed to turn around and see his attacker slowly stand up, an empty sheath visible on the outside of his thigh.

Kuroko saw no slideshow, had no sudden trip down memory lane as he fell, a black metallic dagger buried a good six inches into his temple. He had no epiphanies or sudden realizations.

There was just fear and shock.

Kuroko knew that if there was an afterlife, he would probably have a reserved seat in hell. No way was it possible for any type of heaven to accept him. All those sins that Kuroko clearly remembers doing. Even now, he felt no remorse, regret or guilt on his past actions.

But as he hit the floor, the world remained intact. The world didn't fade from his vision nor did it waver.

But then came the pain.

At first, it was like someone was tickling his brain, small little things that Kuroko assumed was from the fact that there was a dagger embedded in his skull.

But then those small tickles became more and more violent until it felt like lightning striking his spinal cord constantly. His body convulsed and shook as each bolt struck against the soft tissue of the inner body. Screams poured from his mouth as freely as the blood from his head.

And then there was this pressure.

It was like something was pressing down on his lungs and chest, compressing into a little box. Kuroko could barely breathe, tears streaming down his bloodied cheeks. A giant elephant was doing jump rope on his chest, leaving these second long intervals of freedom before the weight came back down.

The mere wound on his head burned hotter than white fire, a single movement causing more pain than not.

And suddenly it was gone.

The pain, the pressure, the fire.

It was all gone.

Kuroko didn't register the strong arms wrapping themselves around him, leaning him against a firm chest.

The pain was finally gone but the tears and the blood wouldn't stop.

"Onii-sama,"

The barely functioning part of Kuroko's brain couldn't match the voice to a face or name, but it could match that one title to a single person.

"K-Kuro," he whispered.

"Don't speak, we need to get this dagger out and then to the closest doctor or healer. Just don't fall asleep on me, okay Onii-sama?"

Kuroko barely turned his head to look up at his look a like. Last time Kuroko saw Kuro, the younger took on the form of a toddler. Now, he appeared before Kuroko as an adult, taller than Kuroko and more muscular, but the aquamarine eyes and hair gave away his identity.

No matter what age Kuro took, he would always look like Kuroko.

"This is going to hurt a lot Onii-sama, prepare yourself."

Kuroko wasn't even given time to digest the words before a he felt a strong pulling sensation. Immediately after, a wave of pain broke through his peace and Kuroko screamed again, the pain returning all at once.

Kuroko's eyes flung open wide and he felt his throat bleed from all the screaming. Strangely, his eyes found the bloody dagger now resting in Kuro's hand, and before he knew what he was doing, Kuroko lunged for the dagger and chucked it into portal behind Kuro.

With a sense of dread, Kuroko watched as the dagger disappeared into the portal, collapsing into Kuro's arms as everything started to get hazy.

The frantic voice of Kuro faded to background noise as Kuroko dived in unconsciousness.

**XXXXXXX**

Akashi sprinted down the hallway.

Panic served his adrenaline fuel as he raced for door 236.

Akashi hoped that he would get there in time, enough time to save Kuroko. When he heard the screams, he immediately quit playing with the man and just burned him to a crisp, a slow but still effective death.

Akashi made sure that not even his bones remained.

When he turned the corner, Akashi froze.

Blood.

There was blood everywhere.

Gruesomely splatter against the walls and even on the ceiling. And the floor, no, it wasn't a floor.

It was a lake of warm crimson.

And in the center of it all, a tall man draped in black with scarlet shoes hugged a bloody body impossibly close to his own.

Sobs could be heard through the sickening silence, the stench of death and sorrow almost suffocating.

Slowly, Akashi walked to the man in the center of the gory mess. As he got closer, light blue hair became visible, and Akashi let his hopes rise, because only Kuroko had that shade of blue for hair.

But when the man looked up, the red head's heart froze.

The man had Kuroko's face, maybe the late twenties version of it at least, and pale blue eyes. But instead of flawless alabaster skin, there were cracks littered all over the visible skin, like someone dropped a porcelain doll on the hardwood floor.

Terrified, Akashi took a few steps back.

"Please," came a scratchy, hoarse voice. "Doctor, he needs a doctor."

Only then did the man turn around and Akashi got a good look at the body he held.

"Tetsuya," breathed Akashi.

Rushing forward, Akashi scooped Kuroko out of Kuro's arms and held him close to his chest, ignoring the scarlet stains blooming on his clothes. Relieved, Akashi could make out the faintest of heartbeats, but a heartbeat none the less. Inspecting him, Akashi found the deep bleeding wound on Tetsuya's head and it took all of his self-control not to throw up. Turning around to face Kuro, Akashi was met with an empty hallway. The man was nowhere to be found.

Yells captured Akashi's attention and nurses, guards and doctors raced down the hallway with a gurney and full gear on. Akashi didn't even protest as they took Kuroko from his arms and wheeled him away to god knows where.

After answering every question they threw at him, the guards and nurses left him alone. They tried to lead him out of the blood drench hallway, but Akashi was nailed to the spot.

Looking around, Akashi finally noticed the red, disturbingly human looking flesh painted all over the hallway. Only when he saw a nurse walking away with two covered medium sized containers did Akashi realized the unfortunate fate that befell on the remaining two intruders.

And he felt not even the slightest twinge of sympathy.

Sighing, the red head finally decided to leave the hallway, but not before something caught his eyes. Light pouring through a blood splattered window reflected of a surface Akashi didn't notice before.

Leaning down, Akashi picked up the small object catching the light.

A pen?

Looking down once more, Akashi found a paper that was only mildly damaged. The bottom was ripped off, but the top was a clear as day.

**DEFAULT**

**?**

"Default?" Akashi thought aloud. "The default of what?"

**XXXXXXX**

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but there are things more precious about your bodies that you may not wish to simply disregard.

_I refuse to be a bird trapped in a cage._

**C'est moi encore,**  
**i just realized as i was writing these chapters that i wasn't consistent with my spellings this whole story so far. For example sometimes i use the American spelling of color, favorite and center, and then other times i use the British/Canadian spelling for colour, favourite and centre.**  
**I JUST REALIZED I WAS DOING THAT AND I APOLOGIZE IF I CONFUSED ANYBODY**  
**Technically both spelling work because i set my microsoft word to English (Canada) instead of English (USA), but i really am sorry, i didn't realize earlier. T_T**  
**I'll try to be more consistent in the future, but i don't make any promises...**

**Please R&amp;R!**

**-BrokenWings66**


	7. Chapter 6

**IMPORTANT NOTE: well, not really but this is a DOUBLE UPDATE, yay! If you haven't already, please read the previous chapter (chapter 5) before continuing with this one thank you!**

A soft beeping noise slowly brought Kuroko back to conscious.

Not opening his eyes, Kuroko could feel an oxygen mask cover his nose and mouth while his body slightly squirmed around in the soft sheets he recognized not to be his own.

There was a muted chatter surrounding him that feel into harmony with the quiet hum of machines.

Random thoughts swam through Kuroko's mind, not slow enough to focus but not fast enough to be a headache. A hazy field protected Kuroko from re-entering reality, so there he lied for an unknown amount of time. A body that was awake but a mind that was too scattered to function.

A shuffling disturbance to his left slightly stirred the blunette's attention. He felt the bed dip as something small wriggled its way under his sheets and snuggled next to him. Comforting warmth overtook the left side of Kuroko's body as a tuft of aquamarine hair peeked out from underneath the sheets.

Curious, Kuroko managed to get his body to open his eyes, only to snap them back shut at the piercing white light the penetrated his vulnerable pupils. After a few seconds, he tried again only one eye at a time, blinking to help adjust and clear his blurry vision.

A small white room with a curtain covered window and a few empty metal folding chairs welcomed his return to the material world.

His mind took a little while longer to completely reboot, but eventually he realized that he was in the infirmary. How he got there, the blunette didn't know, but just before his memory blanked out he remembered bone numbing pain and looking into Kuro's terrified eyes.

Speaking of Kuro.

Kuroko slowly moved his head to look down, ignoring the drum performance occurring within his skull. He felt more rather than saw Kuro curled up on his side, sobbing quietly into his hospital gown. Lifting his hand, Kuroko reached over to pat Kuro's head, but once he caught sight of the IV prompting sitting on the back of his right hand, the blunette quickly changed to the left.

He felt the small body stiffen once his hand made contact, but the sobbing only grew as the little body hidden beneath the sheets relaxed.

"Hey," croaked Kuroko who quickly cleared his throat and tried again.

"Hey," Better. Still a bit coarse, but after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time, it's be a bit much to ask for Kuroko to sound like Morgan Freeman.

"Why are you crying? There's nothing to be sad about,"

Kuroko pulled the sheets back a bit to face the tear and snot stained face of a seven year old Kuro.

"I-I-I-I w-wasn't able to s-save Onii-s-sama in time. I-I got there t-t-too late, and, and" the rest of the sentence warbled off into unintelligible sobs, but Kuroko could've sworn he heard "failed", "blood," and "scared," muttered a few times.

Pulling the small body up, Kuroko adjusted the hospital bed up right slowly and sat up. He rested Kuro's head against his chest and wrapped his arms around the quivering body. Small fists clutched tightly to the scratchy blue material of the hospital gown and Kuroko paid no mind to the damp feeling sensation of the gown starting to stick to his skin because of all of the tears and snot.

Shushing his softly, Kuroko began to rock Kuro back and forth, bringing one of his hands to stroke the soft blue locks of the younger.

A small feeling of nausea tumbled around in the pit of Kuroko's stomach, but he pushed it to back of his worries along with the drum demonstration growing in volume back in his skull.

"Everything's fine now, I'm safe and healthy, you're safe and healthy. No one's hurt and everything will be just fine."

Comforting words continued to stream from Kuroko's mouth, but they seemed to befall on deaf ears.

Sighing, Kuroko continued to rock and back forth and instead chose to softly hum a lullaby he often sang to himself when he used to live as a street rat.

There wasn't a clock in the room, but after what Kuroko assumed to be around an hour, Kuro's sobs simmered down to a small sniffle and hiccup every now and then. But the tight grip he had on the gown never lessened, as if he was afraid that Kuroko would turn into air and slip away from his grasp and disappear forever.

Kuroko ceased his rocking, helping calm his almost overwhelming need to empty his stomach and instead chose to hold Kuro closer. Continuing to run his fingers gently through Kuro's soft locks, he found a rhythm with his strokes and the soft pitter patter of Kuro's heartbeat. Focusing solely on that, the pounding in his head seemed to ease up only slightly.

Reaching his peak of tolerance, Kuroko gently unlatched Kuro from his frame, removed the mask from around his mouth and rushed to empty his stomach into the conveniently waiting bucket next to his bed.

Acid burned his throat and clogged his sinus, causing him to choke slightly before another wave of vomit coursed through him.

A small hand rubbed soothing circles on his back as Kuroko dry heaved a few minutes later, nothing left to bring up except for globs of saliva.

Coughing slightly, Kuroko leaned back and relaxed into his pillows. The pounding had faded substantially to a small dull throb and the discomfort in his stomach was erased.

The cold touch of plastic startled Kuroko out of his reverie and he turned his head slightly, a small trail of water following the movement of his cheek as he turned to face Kuro who was holding a cup against his cheek. Condensation dripped small droplets of cold water onto his skin as Kuroko gingerly accepted the cup and took deep gulps.

The simple water was nectar on Kuroko's tongue, the sweet liquid leaving a trail of cold fire to the pit of his stomach, cooling it back down to normality.

Drinking the last drop, Kuroko shot Kuro a grateful smile as he placed the empty cup on the table next to the bed.

Relaxing back into the pillows, Kuroko lifted his left arm, inviting Kuro to lie beside him. The smaller eagerly accepted and snuggled back into Kuroko's side. His face was still a little red and eyes puffy from crying but the sniffles and tears had stopped, only cute little hiccups escaping his mouth every now and then.

After an empty but comfortable silence, Kuroko finally decided to speak.

"There's nothing else to worry about Kuro. I'm fine and within no time I'm sure I will fine. Even if I'm not expected to make a full recovery, we can always go to Daedalus or Avalon and go to a healer. Easily they could heal my injuries. I'll admit I was careless this time, but I assure you it won't happen again. Okay? I'm sorry for scaring you like that. Forgive me?"

A pregnant silence hung in the air before Kuro huffed.

"Stupid Onii-sama, I was really scared for you. You didn't wake up for two weeks and all of the dimensions faced all types of strange weather."

Kuroko chuckled as he acknowledged Kuro's version of forgiveness.

The bed shifted as Kuro wiggled out from Kuroko's arm and sat on his lap. The small boy reached out to gently touch Kuroko's forehead which was wrapped in gauze. Kuroko almost crossed his eyes following his hand and winced slightly as the small hand lightly touched his forehead.

Kuro quickly retracted his hand when he saw Kuroko's reaction.

Softly smiling Kuroko gently retrieved Kuro's retracted hand and instead placed it in his hair just above the bandage. "I didn't even realize there was a bandage," he confessed.

Kuro hummed in response and started playing with Kuroko's hair and the latter closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of his hair being fiddled with.

Suddenly, voices could be heard outside of the closed door. And by the sounds of it, they were going to come in.

Kuroko snapped his eyes open and glanced at Kuro who seemed to pay the voices no mind. Seeing this, Kuroko sighed as he figured Kuro was going to stick around. He already considered this possibility because Kuro never liked leaving him when something big happened, but he also didn't like being seen by other people.

Which was fine with Kuroko because then there was no explanation needed for the presence of a boy that looked exactly like Kuroko. Not even Mayuzumi had ever met Kuro. Only Kuroko and some other unfortunate people who were no longer present on this Earth have ever seen Kuro.

Kuroko guessed that his lucky streak was finally coming to a close as he couldn't force Kuro to go away. The door opened and Kuro stubbornly continued to sit on his lap and absentmindedly continued to braid his hair.

**XXXXXXX**

"Akashi-san, I assure you that Kuroko-san has stabilized. He is only asleep right now. It is unknown when he will awaken but the likelihood of him entering a long-term coma is highly improbable."

Akashi along with the rest of the group anxiously followed after the nurse. It's been a fortnight since the incident and only yesterday did the doctors finally give the okay for Kuroko to be allowed to have visitors.

The past 336 hours have been literal hell for Akashi.

He didn't eat or sleep until Nijimura stepped in and convinced him that starving himself wasn't going to help anyone, especially Kuroko.

Kagami had been overall pretty good with the situation and was careful with what he said because everyone he was surrounded with had clearly known Kuroko much longer than him and was closer. Momoi only provided minimal details when asked about the mysterious blunette, but Kagami guessed that had less to do with Momoi withholding information so much as she just didn't know.

In fact, most, if not all (because no way was he asking Akashi), knew very limited details about Kuroko. They didn't even know what his power was. The description they gave could just as well befit a stranger.

All that Kagami knew was that everyone first met Kuroko when Akashi first invited him to their table a few years ago, back then when everyone was fifteen. His birthday was January 31st, an Aquarius, and no one seemed to see him right away, even if he was right in front of them. Well, except for Akashi. He really liked vanilla milkshakes, borderline addiction, and mastered the arts of poker face.

He had only met Kuroko thrice, once when he first arrived at the asylum, twice when he appeared out of nowhere after missing apparently for a week and thrice the next morning in breakfast when Akashi kissed the blunette.

Kagami had no problem with homosexuality. Himuro was aware that he wasn't attracted to females since a young age, so Kagami grew up with him knowing he was gay. Kagami wasn't the same, but he never understood why society looked down and was disgusted by people who loved the same sex. What was the difference between them and heterosexual couple? If loving the same gender was considered gay, then wasn't everyone a little gay? Because when given thought, parents loved their children no matter what gender as did friends.

Kagami understood that family and friendship love was different from romantic relationships, but still, the boy didn't understand the disgust.

Although he didn't really talk with Kuroko, Kagami assumed he was a pretty nice guy.

Once, and just once Kagami slipped and said something insensitive during dinner, five days after the attack. Midorima simply stilled, but the grip on his utensils tightened noticeably and Takao's face went blank. Aomine outright snarled and Kise closed his eyes and bit his lip, visibly trying to reign in his temper. Himuro shot him a sympathetic look while Murasakibura glared daggers at him. Momoi's eyes froze over and clasped her hands tight together.

But Akashi, Akashi had been downright murderous.

It took the effort of all of them aside from Kagami to hold Akashi back, his gold eye flashing and body lit aflame. The shorter red head burned nearly all of them, but a quick visit to Nurse Yixing and his healing abilities, another former Teiko patient from China, removed all signs of the fire.

Only Himuro talked to him for the next two days before he apologized to everyone and things went back to how they were before. But the look Momoi gave him made something inside his chest squeeze in the painful way.

He understood that Momoi was exceptionally close to Kuroko, and while he also knew that Kuroko was a thing with Akashi, something shifted uncomfortably inside him whenever he thought back to that morning when Momoi clung and declared her love for the blunette. Kuroko didn't even deny her, not that he responded either though.

Frustrated, Kagami pushed aside the pang within his chest in favour of paying attention back to the nurse that had now stopped in front of what Kagami assumed was Kuroko's room.

"Supposedly only five people are allowed at a time, but I trust that you all will be well behaved and only crowd around him once I finish changing his bandage. His eyes are closed, but that doesn't mean he can't hear. But do not, and I repeat, DO NOT, argue or chatter all at once inside the room. This could bring unnecessary stress to Kuroko-san because like I said, there's a chance he can still hear us.

"I will leave once I finish changing the bandage, but I will be at the nurse station right over there," she pointed a manicured nail at a large desk surrounded by people wearing the same uniform. "and trust me if there is something I don't like going on in there, I CAN hear you and I will kick you out. Understand?"

"Crystal," replied Takao.

Nodding, the nurse grabbed the handle and opened the door.

The nurse gasped in surprised, and everyone looked over her to get a peek at what she was seeing.

To put it simply, jaws dropped.

**XXXXXXX**

Kuroko donned his infamous poker face the minute he heard the handle turn and the door silently open. Kuro had adjusted himself to a more comfortable position by completely lying down on Kuroko's chest, resting his head in the crook of Kuroko's neck and continued fiddling with the edges of Kuroko's hair. The injured blunette wrapped his arms underneath Kuro's bottom, keeping him in place while giving his arms something to hold on to.

The door opened a bit more and in walked the nurse. She looked up and gasped, surprised to see Kuroko awake and a stranger cuddled up on her patient. It was a boy she had never seen before and had an almost identical resemblance to Kuroko.

She heard the group behind her gasp as well, so she assumed that they didn't know who the stranger was either.

Clearing her throat, the nurse continued into the room, the group of youngsters trickling in after her. Kuroko followed them with his eyes and quickly glanced at Akashi.

For lack of a better description, the red head looked like shit.

Dark purple circles stood out prominent on his pale skin beneath his eyes. His usual silky smooth complexion looked pasty and unhealthy, like he hasn't slept in months. Kuroko couldn't be sure, but his clothes looked a bit big on him and Kuroko knew that before the accident they fitted him to a T. His hair shone slightly, indicating he probably didn't shower recently and his usual vibrant heterochromia eyes seemed to lack its usual intensity.

He looked…tired.

Understatement of course, but out of all three years that Kuroko knew the red head, not once did he ever look anything less than superior, dazzling, higher class, and just…perfect (of course Kuroko is also extremely bias).

Did Akashi look so terrible because of him? Kuroko knew it's been two weeks since the incident, but one look at Akashi made seem like yesterday.

Their eyes met and Kuroko saw them reignite. The blunette couldn't find it within him to look away from the embers that slowly began to relight in those red and gold eyes.

However that was quickly pushed aside when he heard a soft growl near his ear.

Kuroko glanced down at Kuro who had stilled in his movements. Usually doe like eyes were hardened and piercing as Kuroko watched them cautiously follow the movements of the nurse. She was walking towards Kuroko with a tray carrying clean bandages and antiseptic. Everyone else formed something akin to a semi-circle around his bed, giving the nurse as much space as they could.

"Hello Kuroko-san, how are you feeling?"

Louder and more noticeable growls escaped from Kuro's lips but Kuroko quickly shushed him.

"I'm fine, thank you. I woke up around an hour ago but no one else has come in until now."

The nurse nodded her head. "Pardon me for asking, but I do not remember leading this little boy into your room. Is he a friend of yours?"

Kuro outright snarled at her, lifting his head to sit upright and glared at the nurse and everyone surrounding her. His pale blue eyes burned with a ferocity that even had Akashi slightly feel the effects. His eyes held suspicion and were guarded as he slowly analyzed everyone in the room.

Kagami found himself cowering slightly behind Aomine who happened to stand next to him. The little boy sitting with Kuroko reminded him of a wild wolf and if there was _one_ thing Kagami was downright terrified of, it was anything related to the canine species.

The nurse flinched and slowly backed away from the bed.

Kuroko resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Kuro's childish behaviour.

"Kuro…."

The said boy turned back around to face Kuroko and gave him the widest puppy eyes possible. Unaffected, Kuroko gave him a pointed look and Kuro pouted.

"_But Onii-sama, they could hurt you! They could be in league with the people who attacked you two weeks ago!_"

Kuroko sighed through his nose. Kuro was being stubborn, but at least he had the decency to complain in the native tongue of Eden.

"_You're being ridiculous Kuro. I've been around these people for three years and never once did they show any signs of ill will towards me. They don't even about you or my abilities. They're my friends Kuro, you know that,_"

Kuro remained unconvinced. "_Quite the dangerous friends you have there,"_

Kuroko tilted his head slightly. "_As if you're the one to talk. Tell me, how is that world of your doing? Last time I checked, it only recently began to rain blood._"

Kuro's pout deepened. "_That's different._" He half-heartedly glared at Kuroko, to which the latter gently patted his head.

"_I know it is. How about this, you let them act normally and as they usually do without hurting them and I will give you a month's supply of vanilla milkshakes._"

Kuroko watched with amusement as Kuro's body stiffened with temptation.

"_And if anything goes wrong, I will give you full and complete permission to kill._"

Kuro peeked at the older. "_You won't get mad?_"

Kuroko nodded.

Sighing, the small boy slid off Kuroko's torso and instead sat cross legged on his left side. The glare never left his features when he looked at the other, but it didn't hold the same bloodlust.

"My apologies," said Kuroko, returning to Japanese. "I'm afraid I can't tell you who he is, but he is allowed to stay with me. If there are more questions you would like to ask, please go to Mayuzumi-sensei. He will answer them more willingly than I."

The nurse slowly nodded, still a little confused.

Akashi and the rest however watched with curious eyes. Never once in his entire life had Akashi ever heard the language Kuroko spoke with the younger child. This was something considering Akashi was quite the polyglot. The red head wasn't even aware that Kuroko knew more than just Japanese and English. It was never a question he ever thought about asking. It seemed pointless due to the fact that Kuroko was clearly of Japanese descent and that most people were bilingual in the asylum due to the diversity of ethnicities.

And the boy.

He looked exactly like the blunette except younger. Immediately Akashi was reminded of the strange man that was holding Kuroko when he found him in the bloody hallway. There was the possibility that the two boys were related, but Akashi never remembered Kuroko ever mentioning of having a sibling. And besides, this was the first time Akashi had ever seen the boy before. Never once before.

Now the red head knew that he didn't know all of the kids in the children's ward, but he too spent time there before he moved to the adult ward. He wouldn't call it a perfect memory, but Akashi was certain that if he saw the boy before in the past he would've definitely remembered.

But what was more confusing than anything else was the fact that Kuroko told the nurse to talk to his psychiatrist if she had more questions. Did the boy have something to do with Kuroko's past? Was he somehow related to Kuroko's powers?

What was the relationship between the boy and Kuroko?

**XXXXXXX**

The nurse's visit took longer than expected because she found the bucket full of vomit and ended up taking some samples from Kuroko to run some tests on to make sure it wasn't anything serious. The bandages didn't take that much time to change, but everyone aside from Kuroko and the nurse winced at the long line of stiches running down from the crown of his head to just beneath his eyebrows. The closed wound was bright red and bleeding a little bit when the nurse removed the old bandage and gauze.

Quickly and efficiently, she cleaned the stiches and wiped away the blood before rewrapping Kuroko's forehead with clean white gauze and a new bandage.

After asking a few medical questions and jotting down things on her clip board, the nurse left the room with the vomit filled bucket and gently closed the door behind her. Well, not before she turned to face the group and threateningly reminded them that "all the previous rules still apply".

Once alone, no one moved or said a word. Kuroko just then realized that no one had said so much as a word ever since they walked into his room.

An awkward silence befell on the group and Kuro decided that this would be a great moment to take a nap. The shuffling of sheets was the only noise heard throughout the room as Kuro once again covered himself in the blankets and snuggled himself right against Kuroko's side, using the other's chest as a pillow. Instinctively, Kuroko's arm wrapped around the small body and his fingers traced circles on the outer edges of Kuro's thighs.

A weird gurgling noise was heard in the background while Momoi frantically scoured the room for a tissue to help her sudden nosebleed. One Kuroko was cute enough for her, but _another_ mini Kuroko snuggling against the first Kuroko was just too much, because good lord her _feels_.

Everyone watched Momoi as she held a fistful of tissues to her nose, face flushed and hearts literally visible in her eyes.

"Okay then…" Kuroko attempted to start a conversation, but no one really seemed to be in a talkative mood.

Suddenly, as if a wall just broke, Kise wailed "KUROKOCCHI!" and three of them jumped onto his bed, capturing him in a painful group hug.

Kuroko maneuvered Kuro out of harm's way as Kise, Momoi and Takao continued to wail and cry big fat crocodile tears whilst holding him in an iron grip.

Kuroko shot a pleading look to Akashi, Aomine, Midorima, Kagami, Himuro and Murasakibura, but instead of helping, Aomine, Himuro and Murasakibura decided to join in on the hug.

Laughing, Himuro managed to squeeze along Kuroko's side while Murasakibura just wrapped his extremely long arms around all five of them. Aomine thought it was a good idea to jump into the hug unlike a normal person and ended up knocking Kise over, angering the still crying blonde.

"What the fuck Aomine!"

"It's not my fault your balance is shit!"

"My balance is perfectly fine asshat! What on earth compelled you to jump on us!? You could've smashed poor little Kurokocchi!"

And so the argument continued and Kuroko was still trapped in the bear hug.

Eventually the door slammed open and in walked a very pissed off looking nurse who kicked out everyone except Kagami, Akashi and Midorima who were still standing in the corner of the room.

Kuro grumbled about the noise before he returned to his previous position against Kuroko's side. The loud scolding and screaming of the nurse could be heard through the thin walls and Kuroko felt nothing but amusement when he heard Kise, Momoi and Takao talk back.

"Here."

Kuroko looked up to see Midorima give him a small cute pink unicorn plushy.

"It's today's lucky item. Not that I'm giving it to you or anything. I'm just getting tired of holding it,"

Kuroko softly laughed before taking the plushy before him. "Thank you Midorima-kun."

The green haired man scoffed. "For what? Like I said, I'm just getting tired of holding it."

Once again, the bright crimson that painted his ears gave him away.

As the bespectacled man exited the room, the remaining four shared the same thought.

_Tsundere._

Unsure of what to do, Kagami followed Midorima's lead. "Uh, I'm glad that you're awake now Kuroko-san. Um, get better soon?" It came out as a question and Kuroko resisted laughing at his awkwardness.

"Thank you Kagami-kun,"

He nodded and left the room.

Now the only people left were Kuroko, Kuro and Akashi.

Clearing his throat slightly, Kuroko gently nudged Kuro. The smaller opened his eyes to look up at Kuroko puzzled. Motioning to the door with his eyes, Kuro groaned before reluctantly detaching himself from the older.

Jumping down from the hospital bed, kuro walked to the door, but before he left he turned around and looked at Kuroko.

"_I'll be back in two hours. Get all the fricky frack done by then please._"

Kuroko forced down the blush that threatened to bloom on his cheeks at the implications of Kuro's words. Smirking, the small blunette quietly closed the door behind him.

Once again silence reigned over the room.

Kuroko could feel the burn of Akashi's gaze upon as he searched for anything but the red head to focus on. He felt shy and exposed under the scrutiny of Akashi's stare, even though Kuroko knew no judgment was taking place.

He heard footsteps come closer and closer to his bed, until finally the bed dipped and another body's warmth tingled near his own.

"Tetsuya,"

His stilled his search at the sound of the silky velvet voice, slightly deep and sending shivers down his spine every time.

Slowly, Kuroko turned his head until he was facing Akashi. The breath caught in his throat as he gazed into the burning irises. Such worry and passion overflowed from the midnight black pupils; it surrounded Kuroko like a comforting cocoon.

The blunette's eyes trailed down, looking at the worrying dark rings sagging beneath the eyes. Staring at shades of purple, Kuroko could see the sleepless nights Akashi lay curled up in his sheets yet never being able to close his heavy eyes. The internal torment with his own demons refused to put his mind to rest, stressing and wearing him thin. Purple bags stood as battle wounds from the mental war the red suffered through for the past two weeks.

Hesitantly, Kuroko cupped one of Akashi's cheeks; soothingly stroking it with his thumb as if his touch could wipe away all of worries, all the stress.

Mismatched eyes widened in surprise, staring at the emotionless blunette. Easily he could see the well concealed concern swimming within pale blue eyes, like ghosts lingering in the world they no longer belonged to.

Slowly, Akashi closed his eyes and leaned into the soft touch of his lover. Encouraged, Kuroko continued with his ministrations. His eyes took the time to trail over the features he burned into the deepest crevice of his brain.

Smooth pale skin glowed softly in the artificial light. Shadows extenuated the sharp features sculpted on a flawless visage. Merlot slender eyebrows curved just above long, elegant lashes that framed the covered blazing red and crystalline gold eyes. Plump dusty pink lips rested lazily against each other as the occasional contented sigh escaped.

Bringing up his other hand, Kuroko cupped Akashi's other cheek and ceased his stroking in favour of outlining the features Kuroko loved so much.

Unconsciously the blunette had leaned in closer, their noses only a breath away. Blue eyes languidly followed the movement of his fingers against the warm flesh.

Akashi reopened his eyes not flinching in the slightest at their close proximity. Eyes catching each other's, Kuroko's hands paused in their movements. Silent words were exchanged as Kuroko could see the hauntings gathered in the depths.

Inching forward, Kuroko closed his eyes as their lips briefly touched.

There was no raging fire burning within them or a lust induced haze over their minds. The white infirmary room seem to bear over them as the beeping of machines became the only noise heard throughout the dull room, the only colour in the room belonging to its two current occupants.

Their minds were clear and calm as the crushing reality finally settled on Kuroko's chest.

He almost died.

Never again would he have seen Akashi or anyone else. Only the quiet empty space would await for him. The suffocating fear engulfed his lungs as he realized that he was a breath away from never again seeing the light.

Kuroko finally felt what Akashi felt whilst waiting for the past fourteen days, unsure if whether or not Kuroko would ever wake up. Or if he was too late and Kuroko was already past the point of return.

Kuroko slowly pulled away first, looking at Akashi with heavy eyes. The red head met his gaze and understood.

Pulling the blunette flush against him, Akashi crashed their lips together. All the desperation and fear he felt poured into the kiss as if Kuroko could feel how scared the red head was of the possibility that he wouldn't awake.

Kuroko gave into the kiss easily and responded just as greedily. He needed to show Akashi that everything was okay again. He was fine and _they_ were going to be just fine. There was no more need to worry because the storm had finally passed, leaving its scars but room to heal.

_It's okay_.

Kuroko wrapped his arms around the red head's neck, trying to pull him even closer.

_Everything is okay now._

**XXXXXXX**

_Your remedies only fuel my cause. _

**Just curious, but how many people caught that cameos i put in Chapter 5 and 6? If you spotted them, please say who you think they are in the comments and I'll tell you next chapter! Most are kpop (sorry, i've past the point of return T_T), but there is an anime! (and it's pretty obvious T_T)**  
**Also, can i just rant about how jin's hair (from BTS) during the I NEED U era reminded me of Midorima? His green hair, or whatever colour it was just made my heart bleed because OMG JIN JIN JIN JIN YOUR HAIR IS GREEN AND YOU LOOK LIKE SHIN-CHAN ! *dies***

**Also, i just realized that i didn't put a link to the Thai Translation that my wonderful translator Pyxis is doing for WTW. It's on my AO3 account, but not here and i want to hit myself for not doing it on here. Anyways, here's the link!**

Thai Translation  
**okay, I'm done now, see you guys in the next chapter!**

**-BrokenWings66**


	8. Chapter 7

"I promise, it has nothing to do with you Momoi-chan,"

The wailing pinkette simply started to cry even harder.

"B-But it's been a weeeeeeek," Kuroko just continued to rub her back, ushering her to continue,

"I-it's been a week and he st-still won't let me h-hug him,"

The cries got louder as Kuroko soon found himself dealing with a pink haired, sobbing koala bear.

"As I said before, it has nothing to do with you. Kuro is just a very reserved child and it takes a long time for him to warm up to other people,"

Said child was sitting on a comfy leather chair with misleading innocence all over his features. Kuroko shot him a quick glare before turning his attention back to the crying girl clinging to him.

"I'm sure that if you give him some more time he will open up to you and eventually you will be able to hug him to your heart's pleasure. But for now all that I can recommend is give him time to adjust."

"But I wanna hug him nooooooooooow~"

Kuroko withheld the urge to sigh. "Good things come to those who wait Momoi-chan,"

Reluctantly, the pinkette the nodded her head and slowly detached herself from Kuroko.

Kuroko turned to look at Kuro who was watching with amused aquamarine eyes. Signaling to the other to move, Kuroko landed with a soft plop onto the comfy chair and barely noticed the smaller boy sitting in his lap.

"She's fun,"

Kuroko gave the younger a blank look. "That's not nice to say Kuro,"

Said boy just shrugged and snuggled down into Kuroko's side, both watching the rather entertaining scene before them of Kagami as stiff as a rock and red as a tomato as Momoi clung onto him.

"M-M-Momoi-s-san, what o-on earth ar-are you d-doing?"

"Kagami-kun is also new but he doesn't mind if I hug him, right Kagami-kun?"

Kagami just slowly nodded his head and kept his eyes focused on the ceiling to not look at the girl clinging very cutely to his arm. Aomine cackled in the background,gaining himself a hard glare from the embarrassed redhead.

"Aw, Kagami-kun, your face is all red. Do you have a fever?"

Kagami snarled at the mocking tone belonging to Kise. "W-What are you t-talking about? M-My fa-"

"Oh no, is it true? Oh no no no no, I'm so sorry Kagami-kun, I didn't know you were sick, if I did, I wouldn't of hugged you so hard."

The combined cackling of both Aomine and Kise resounded through the room as Kagami sputtered to answer her, his face all the way to the tips of his ears a vibrant shade of red.

The pinkette released her hold on the poor man before suddenly forcefully lowering him to her eye level and pressed their foreheads together.

Kagami, somehow, managed to turn an even darker shade of red once again as he horribly stuttered out a question to Momoi.

"No need to be so embarrassed silly, I'm just making sure you don't have a fever," the pinkette looked straight into Kagami's unfocused eyes. "Besides, Kagami-kun, you aren't like Dai-chan, right? You're more honorable,"

Kuroko could practically see Kagami's brain melting into a puddle of goop as a bunch of indecipherable sounds escaped his mouth as the redhead tried to format an answer.

The blunette snorted as Aomine protested against Momoi's comment. Him and Kagami could practically be carbon copies of each other personality wise. The only difference was that one was completely head over heels for the pinkette while to the other she was like a nagging little sister.

"What do you mean 'more honorable'? You should see the stack of po-"

"SHUT UP AHOMINE!"

The tanned male just smirked at the redhead. "You know. By yelling you only make yourself look more guil-"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP"

"Yah-"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP"

"LEMME SPEAK YOU DIPSHIT! I CAN SAY WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT SHIT HEAD"

"I'M SURPRISED YOU CAN EVEN SAY A SENTENCE THAT LONG AHOMINE"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN AHO BAKAGAMI, HUH? YOU WANNA GO BIG BOY?!"

"ANY TIME ANY WHERE_ AHOMINE_"

" BRING IT ON BAKAGAMI. I'LL GLADLY BEAT YOUR SORRY ASS AS MANY TIMES AS NEEDED!"

"YOU WISH!"

Kuro quietly giggled at the unintentionally dirty promise Aomine made.

Kise and Kuroko watched with amused eyes as Momoi silently released her grasp around the yelling red head and walked over to where the three of them were now sitting.

"The testosterone is practically palpable in here."

Kise laughed. "Next thing you know they're gonna whip out their junk to see who's bigger,"

Momoi made a face and covered her eyes with her hands. "No. Just, no. That is not an image I need in my mind."

" Sorry Momoicchi, but boys will always be boys,"

Kuroko internally laughed as Momoi suddenly bombarded questions on Kise about whether or not he ever compared _swords_ before. The flustered blonde could only respond in stutters when Kuro decided to join in the torment.

"Kise-nii, you have a sword! Cool, can I see it?"

The blonde proceeded to die of embarrassment as he tried to explain that _no he didn't have a sword, yes he said he did- ,yes lying is bad_. Finally Kise gave up and just collapsed under the innocent stare of Kuro.

"When you're older I'm sure Kuroko or the doctors will explain it to you,"

"Really?" asked Kuro. The blonde hummed in affirmation.

"But why would the doctors or Onii-sama explain your penis to me?"

Kise looked at Kuro horrified as Kuroko rolled his eyes.

"KUROKOCCHI, what are you teaching children!?"

Kuroko frowned. "I beg your pardon?"

"YOU WOULD TEACH A SEVEN YEAR OLD WHAT _SWORDFIGHTING_ IS!?"

"I never said tha-"

"WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU DESTROY A CHILD'S INNOCENCE LIKE THAT?!"

"Kise-kun…"

"I WAS WRONG, SO TERRIBLY WRONG! DEAR LORD, FORGIVE ME FOR WORSHIPPING THIS IDOL-"

"Kise-nii, onii-sama didn't teach me, Aomine-nii told me about it,"

The blonde male went quiet, his face morphing into an indifferent mask as the argument between Aomine and Kagami was the only noise reverberating throughout the room.

"Aomine Daiki…"

Almost comically the two fighting males immediately ceased their movements and slowly turned to face Kise.

"H-h-hai?"

Kuroko glanced at the clock and sighed. Leaning over to Momoi, the blunette gently tapped her shoulder.

"I have my appointment in a few minutes. Will you be okay with them for a while?"

Momoi giggled. "Aw, Tetsu-kun, don't worry. I've handled worse than these knuckleheads, just one word and I can make them kneel,"

Kuroko decided to ignore the last part. "I'm taking Kuro with me, so I'll see you guys at lunch?"

Momoi hummed in response and gave him a quick squeeze before letting go.

Picking up the smaller, Kuroko stood up and quietly exited the room, allowing the jarringly loud voices of Kise, Aomine and Kagami to float through the hallway before closing the door shut.

It's been around two days since Kuroko was allowed to leave the infirmary and three weeks since the intruder incident. Throughout the whole time Kuro refused to return to his world and remained next to Kuroko almost 24/7. At first it unnerved the nurses and the blunette's colorfully haired visitors, but after three days of unclear and open ended "answers" from Mayuzumi, everyone simply adjusted to the extra presence.

Apparently the dagger embedded in Kuroko's head wasn't actually "embedded" in his head. Gave him a nasty cut for sure, hence the heavy bleeding, but rather it was infused with illusion runes. Complex illusion runes at that, as they managed to confused both Kuroko, Kuro and Akashi.

The weapon was found nearby Kuroko's body by the clean up crew leaving one question causing slight turmoil in the victim. There was scarring from another object that had supposedly attached itself near the large cut from the dagger; however there was no trace of any other object nearby aside from the rune instilled dagger lying in the corner.

Where was the object, why would it attach itself to the cut, and if the dagger was found, what did Kuroko throw into the portal?

"Is Onii-sama okay?"

Snapping back to reality, Kuroko glanced at Kuro before continuing down the empty hallway.

"I'm fine,"

"Are you thinking about the dagger again?"

Kuroko hummed, no giving Kuro an answer.

"Does Onii-sama want me to look for it?"

Sighing, Kuroko stopped and placed Kuro down onto his feet. Crouching down to the smaller's level, Kuroko patted his head before gently lifting up Kuro's shirt slightly. Crack marks were just barely visible on the pale moon kissed skin and disappeared underneath the waistband on his trousers.

"It's improved, only a few more days until it vanishes completely." Kuroko murmured.

Releasing his shirt, the larger blunette picked up Kuro once more before continuing on their path to Mayuzumi's office.

"Until not a single crack is left, you will not even think about leaving my side, okay? We will worry about the dagger later, so just leave it up to me for now,"

Kuro snuggled his face deeper into Kuroko's neck and tightened his hold around the taller other. Kuroko began to hum a quiet tune, more than likely influenced by Kise loud singing a few hours earlier.

Stopping in front of Mayuzumi's office door, Kuroko pecked Kuro's head before slowly heading inside.

**XXXXXXX**

**LOCATION: WONDERLAND (REALM # 6)**

Dimly lit hallways curved around her, gaudy scarlet paint illuminated by the cheap heart shaped lanterns hanging off the walls.

A soft background music of moans and Mozart drifted in the air, neither of these noises unfamiliar upon her ears. Silently, she seemingly floated along the empty path until taking an abrupt right turn down an even darker hallway. Door after door she passed, some hanging a heart ornament off a hook while others stood empty of such decoration. Barely muffled words and noises emitted from the decorated doors with a streak of light shining from beneath and around the frame.

The quiet noise slowly faded into nothing as the lanterns became fewer and fewer in number. Soon, only the empty clicks of her blush coloured feathered pumps resounded in the dark hallway. The shadows gradually swallowed the walls as the occasional window allowed only a sliver of moonlight to seep through the thick barriers of the heavy merlot velvet curtains.

Only a few paces later she found herself completely submerged in a familial blackness. The lines of the walls along with the hallway disappeared as the shadows crept into every crevice and portals the girl into their own world. Unflinchingly, she continued forward, a perverse sense of comfort filling her sense of being.

Eventually she arrived at the end of the hallway, devoid of any sound or person, only the soft red glow of light from a lantern above a sign visible. She stood before a pair of heavy curtains which she knew was hiding a rusty brass door begin them. A drunk monkey sat in top of the lantern, ignoring her existence all together. A faint smile graced her lips as she disregarded the "Staff Only" sign as pushed through the curtain and traversed through the door.

Almost immediately the cacophony of yelling voices, slamming of makeup containers and the ruffle of changing clothes filled the perfume clogged air. She managed to weave her way through the bustling bodies of other girls and boys before sitting herself down at her own personal powder table.

"Busy night, isn't it love?"

She didn't have to look up to know that another girl dressed in a scandalous outfit of black and cherry leather was the only one who spoke to her.

"As always, isn't it?" she replied.

The other girl hummed in response, sitting down at her own table just across.

"I've heard that everyone's been overly stressed because of the recent raids and storms,"

"I suppose that would make sense, nothing like a little fun to help ease the nerves."

The other girl chuckled and reached up to unclasp her earrings. "I mean, it's good for us and all, brings in the bread money, but, well…"

"Are you trying to imply something sugarplum?"

The other girl stripped out of her two piece noir et rouge leather garb. Slowly she sashayed over to a double rack filled with clothes chaotically hung up on clear plastic garnet hangers. After hovering for a few seconds, she selected a one piece polished burgundy leather jumpsuit.

"I'm not trying to say nothing, just wondering what in the Creator's name is happening out in the other worlds." She took off her thin silk thong and slithered into the new outfit. The other girl then sat back down at her table and began to retouch her microscopically smudged makeup.

The girl hummed in response. "Well, while you're off `wondering` about the Creator, I'm stuck here in these poofy, lacey, and pink bras and thongs. "

The other girl snorts. "I told you to be careful when choosing your category of profession."

She groans and stops applying bright coral eyeshadow to her lids. "I knoooooooooooow. Why didn't I choose to be a dominatrix like you?"

The other girl laughs. "Is being a candy girl that bad?"

Pouting, she rests her head on her hands. "No, but still, if I have to keep wearing all these feathers for one more day, I swear I'm gonna blow." She frowned at the other's smirk. "Not in that way, I do that already at least five times a day."

After giving herself one final layer of mineral powder, the other girl stood up, tied her knee high black gladiator heels and began to pack up her things. "Well, I'm not sure if it make you feel better, but I have a feeling that things are going to be changing real soon around here. Whenever something fishy happens for no reason, the Creator's involved one way or another. And when the Creator's involved, something big is going to happen."

Putting her lipstick and eyeliner pencil back into their cases, the other girl quickly tied her hair into a tight ballerina bun and pushed in her chair.

"Whether that's a good thing or not, well," she waved good bye towards her roseate friend. "That's just something we're gonna have to figure out,"

And with that, she merged with the crowd and eventually disappeared.

**XXXXXXX**

**LOCATION: DAEDALUS (REALM #8)**

"Look Mama, a shooting star!"

The aging beauty paused from reading her novel to look up at her child of seven years and then to the sky. And sure enough, a streak of bright green and turquoise was cascading across the endless black sky. The young boy stood amazed just in front of his mother, amazed at the extraterrestrial phenomenon occurring before his eyes. He didn't even need to use his old fashioned telescope his parents bought him for his six birthday from an antiques collector.

The mother smiled at the sight of her son, the fruit of year after year of trying with her husband. Finally, the Creator and his grace granted them the miracle of a son. No matter how long she studied the stars and the miracle of the beginning of the universe, the birth of her son will forever be the only miracle she see as the most beautiful thing to have ever of happened in the universe.

Yet the streak across the sky befuddled the woman. Unlike normal shooting stars, the streak lasted longer than a few seconds and retained its bright glow, never once losing its luminescence. It surely wasn't a comet as their interspace drones and patrols hadn't picked up any nearby floating debris nor was a meteor entering the atmosphere by the lack of the whole sky lighting up.

So what was currently streaking across the sky, captivating the eyes, imagination and wonder of her seven year old son.

Almost as soon as it appeared, a large hole suddenly opened up, swallowing up the atmospheric anomaly before closing and vanishing.

"Mama, mama, mama, what was that? It just swallowed up the shooting star!" He turned to face her. "Does that mean my wish won't come true?"

Stunned, it took the woman a few moments to fully comprehend what just happened before turning to smile at her son. She opened out her arms and immediately her son skipped over and snuggled into her embrace.

"It appears that something very big is going to happen my love. The Creator will soon be amongst us."

**XXXXXXX**

Many see my actions as lost, but he sees it as battle wounds.

**Hey guys, BrokenWings66 here, and I know it's been a ridiculous amount if time since I updated and I sincerely apologize, I don't have an excuse to give aside from some writers block getting through the first part of this chapter. **

**I know it's shorter than my other ones, usually I aim for each chapter being around 4-5 thousand words. However I figured it would be better to maybe do a shorter chapter but update faster, and it didn't really change anything plot wise for what I have planned.**

**And yes! To those who guessed it, the kpop references (I swear, I've lost my soul to it) were Yixing/Lay from EXO, Kunpimook/ Bambam from GOT7, a quick mention of Seokjin/ Jin from BTS **

**Also a continued cameo from Ymir of AOT.**

**Please pardon my grammar, I'll probably fix it later**

**-BrokenWings66**

**To see the Thai translation of the story done by my wonderful translator Pyxis, I cross posted this story onto my AO3 account under Brilliantly_Dulll. Please go there to find the link since i can't seem to do it on this website. **

**But here's the link to the Thai translation either way: **** ?id=1370749**


	9. Chapter 8

"-"

What was that?

"R-ru-"

I can't hear you, the static is too loud.

"Dang-...waiti-...don-"

What are you trying to tell me? Speak louder

"-ce dre-...wa-...p!"

Huh?

"-ake u-..."

What did you say?

"Wak-...up"

What do you mean!?

"WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP"

**XXXXXXX**

"So you're saying that he has an indefinite age?"

Kuroko hummed in response, his arms circled around Kuro as the said boy fiddled around aimlessly with his fingers.

"Pretty much. When passing through different realms, the time flow is ever changing and easily manipulated. He does not have a countable age if looked at from the perspective of the multiple worlds, but if narrowed down to simply the real world, this world, then the number will be be far more believable."

Mayuzumi scoffed. "So this little mini you is actually countless years older than me?"

Kuroko shrugged. "In a sense, yes."

"Does that mean that you are, in a sense, also older than me?"

"Yes."

"So, if we actually count how old you are by years, you'd be over a gazillion years old, but if we narrow down the years we are counting to just this world, you're only eighteen."

"You seem very keen on this whole ever changing age and the fact that I might be older than you,"

The doctor sighed. "I already guessed that something like this existed, especially-" a pointed look was shot at the blunette, "-after that two month disappearance fiasco. It's just, you know, we've been friends for so long" Kuroko rolled his eyes at the fake sniffle, "to think you had to spend so much time without knowing me." The grey haired male fanned his eyes as if he were stopping tears. "I just get so emotional,"

"You're hilarious Mayuzumi-sensei,"

"OOH, sweet agony. The masochistic pleasure of your words consume me,"

Kuroko placed his hands overs Kuro's ears. "Sensei, you're being weird again."

Mayuzumi huffed. "It's not _weird_, Kuroko-kun. Everyone is entitled to their own preferences, don't kink shame,"

"Kuro, when you grow up, please don't turn out like Mayuzumi-sensei, he's a bad influence."

"Yah-"

"Hai onii-sama."

"Wait a minute, I'm a perfectly ideal role model! People should strive to be like me!"

"See that arrogance Kuro? It is always polite to be modest in front of others, but it is okay to accept praise from others. The trick is to not accept it all the time and strive to be modest."

"Hey, liste-"

"Hai onii-sama."

"Ugh."

**XXXXXXX**

"If you can remember, please go over the details once more of what happened."

Akash boredly observed his nails as Nijimura again asked him of what happened.

"I already told the onsite nurses and doctors, but if you _insist…"_

The elder male watched his patient continue to disinterestedly partake in a conversation that for past ten minutes been relatively one sided.

"The onsite personnel are quite tight lipped to prevent rumors and such, so therefore I am rather in the dark concerning the, _incident_. I would like to hear it in your own words"

Akashi snorted. "So you can spread _rumors_, those 'tightlipped' personnel try so hard to prevent?"

Nijimura let out a low chuckle "As I'm sure you know, I'm not quite the gossipy type. Think of it merely to sate my curiosity."

Sighing, Akashi settled a little more comfortably into his seat and finally let his hands rest in his lap. "Very well, for the sake of incurable _curiosity_.

It wasn't a tale Akashi relatively enjoyed to tell, despite the masked glee he felt when explaining his role in the unfortunate demise of one of the intruders. The onsite staff demanded an explanation, which he half mindedly gave, while the rest of the GoM were still in the dark concerning what really happened (although Akashi had good cause to suspect Momoi already had a general understanding).

Nijimura was asking him for the first time ever since the incident, the previous weeks were spent getting Akashi back into normal condition. He was probably one of the few people that actually held some of Akashi's respect and had been with the red head since his first day after admission.

Maybe it was the way he always addressed Akashi as an equal and never anything less. Maybe it was the way he acknowledged that Akashi did reign superior to him in certain aspects.

But that's a story for another time.

"So you had no control over when you got the vision? Did you get a precursor warning or was it sudden?"

"Sudden, one immediately following another."

Nijimura crossed one of his legs over another, leaning further back into his chair and sporting a mug of coffee in his hands.

"When was the last time somethings like this happened?"

"Three years ago."

Nijimura hummed. The two of them had made significant process in controlling Akashi's visions and flames. The redhead had entered the institution as a Severe, nurses and doctors constantly observing him and deeming whether or not it was safe to leave him with the other patients unsupervised. That itself only further aggravated the, at the time, boy and multiple times lashed out in retaliation. He refused to be treated and seen as a person who needed help or guidance. In the early days, after Nijimura finally got the younger to start talking during their daily sessions, whenever the doctor asked Akashi why he opposed the idea of therapy and having others help him, the boy always responded "Akashis don't need any help for We are never wrong."

A few burns and multiple stare downs later, Nijimura succeeded in convincing Akashi that just because he might need some guidance in controlling his flames and visions, it does not mean he is in the wrong.

"Something bigger is playing out, we just aren't aware yet of what that is."

"I'm inclined to agree." said Nijimura, placing his mug down onto his desk and making a quick mental note to discuss this with the higher ups later on. "Did you see something else in your visions that might hint at what this bigger picture may be?"

"Unfortunately no, but those three intruders didn't did alarm the security system and attack all alone. There were people behind the scene, meaning this was an operation of some sort. And whoever organized this little outing had a goal in mind." Red and gold eyes flashed with an unknown emotion, fluttering away just as fast as it appeared. "And seeing how well armed their pawns were, this isn't a goal they will give up easily."

The familiar corset of dread tightened one string at a time onto both of the occupants of the room.

Breaking the silence, Nijimura released the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "Security has been on high alert and quadrupled ever since the attack. Curfews are now more heavily reinforced and our technicians have been working on strengthening the systems to prevent future intentional malfunctions. If these people do attempt to attack again, they will not get very far. There isn't a need to be concerned Akashi-kun,"

With the slightest furrow of his brows, the said man picked up the re-scrambled rubix cube from the doctor's desk.

"We shall see."

**XXXXXXX**

"And we're done!"

Kuroko lightly touched the clean and new bandages that protected the wound on his head. Kuro was quietly sitting next to the other, sucking on the cherry lollipop the nurse had given to him.

"It's healing up nicely and if we remain vigilant on keeping the bandages clean along with medications, you should be as good as new in a few weeks!"

Only half listening, Kuroko nodded and bowed slightly when the nurse left the tiny, cramped white room with the small metal tray containing the dirty bandages in tow. The nurses had a little scare some time ago when he reopened his wind after a little too much accidental rough housing from Kise and Momoi, mainly one group hug too many. It ended with a blood soaked bandage, a killer migraine and Akashi enacting his wrath on everyone. Thankfully it occurred while he was still staying in the infirmary, but you can only imagine how angry the head nurse got. The world was once again reminded of why she was dubbed "Big Nurse". Fortunately it was not so much of being a manipulative sadistic vengeful nurse from the battlefield, but rather having the ability to scare pretty much everyone into submission all under the guise of a smile.

Picking up the note the nurse earlier wrote down with his schedule of when to come for his medication, Kuroko exited the small doctor's room and Kuro quietly tailing behind him. The former smiled and thanked the doctors and nurses he ran into on his way out while Kuro gladly accepted the extra lollipops offered to him from the squealing nurses.

"I hope you realize that you're not going to eat all of those today right?"

Kuro pouted in response. "But whyyyyy."

"You can have one more, but we're about to go to lunch and having more of those things will ruin your appetite. Besides, too much sugar isn't good for you,"

"B-But that's not fair, you have those vanilla milkshakes all the time. They aren't good for you either!"

"Vanilla milkshakes are perfectly fine, and besides, I never have one before a meal. So you can either give them to me for safekeeping or you can do it yourself."

Pouting in a brooding silence for a few more seconds, Kuro finally swiped his hand slightly to open up a portal. He reluctantly dropped his treasures down the black hole and refused to face Kuroko.

Chuckling softly at the other's antics, Kuroko let Kuro brood and mope for a few more minutes before swooping down and picking him up.

"I know you really wanted to eat them, but I don't want you to spoil your appetite. It's not healthy to just eat candies."

Kuro slowly nodded, showing he was listening but was still mad.

"You can eat them later, but with moderation, okay?"

"Hai."

Kuroko pecked the other's cheek as Kuro finally dropped his angry act and wrapped his arms around the former's neck.

"Onii-sama,"

"Hm?"

"There's something I want to tell you before we go to lunch."

"What is it?"

Kuro unwrapped his arms and motioned for the taller to let go of him. Complying, Kuroko watched as the other turned to face him, an uncharacteristically serious look on his face.

"I don't know if Onii-sama has caught wind of it yet because I'm not sure if anyone has reported it to one of our temples, but there has been an atmospheric anomaly travelling through the dimensions."

Kuroko furrowed his brows. "Travelling through the dimensions?"

Kuro nodded. "Hai. From what I've managed to gather from the people and creatures who've seen it, it looks like a large glowing object shooting across the sky, only to be swallowed by what is described to be very similar to a portal. It travelled to around half of the dimensions in no noticeable order, lasting no more than a few minutes at most per dimension."

"It "travelled"? Does that mean it's stopped?"

Kuro pursed his lips. "That's the strange thing Onii-sama, it's disappeared. The last known sighting was in Wonderland and I can't get a lot of information due to a strong storm system currently passing through, along with recent town raids. It seems like the Hatter is hiring mercenaries to try to bring the Red Queen down again."

"Has the White Queen said anything yet?"

"As of yet, no. But if these raids continue without resistance or a form of local retaliation, then the likelihood of the White Queen stepping in will significantly increase. I'd place my bets on her siding with her sister,"

Kuroko chuckled, despite the current unfavorable situation. "When does she not side with her older sister?"

Kuro remained impassive. "There was a reported recent crash in the ocean in Wonderland a few days ago, their time. I have reason to infer that whatever it was travelling through the dimensions has permanently landed in Wonderland."

"Have there been any unnatural incidents after the crash?"

"None to my knowledge, but I was hoping to scope out the crash site-"

"Once you're healed."

Kuro softly smiled, ignoring f the fact that Kuroko interrupted him. "Once I'm healed, I will go scope out the crash site and speak to the locals about what happened. See what I can find out from them."

Kuroko nodded in agreement. "I may as well also check footage from the past few days, see if any of the planetary cameras I installed caught anything during the crash. I never allowed a certain object to dimension travelled, and I was not notified of it."

"Will you accompany me to Wonderland Onii-sama?"

"No, I shouldn't, especially after the recent attack. There might be a correlation between this strange anomaly and what had happened here. One of us should stay in at least of the places at a time,"

Kuro pouted as he made grabby fingers, his signal for "pick me up".

"Does that mean I won't be able to spend time with Onii-sama?"

Complying to the smaller's request, Kuroko picked up the other and gently patted his head. "Only until we figure out what happened and if we discover there is no correlation. But until then, I'm afraid so."

"I don't want to leave Onii-sama. Your so called "friends" are dangerous,"

"Only if you are their enemy or if you aggravate them. I assure you Kuro, they really are harmless to me."

"But…"

"You saw how they reacted when I got hurt, do you really think they would hurt me on their own accord?"

"Yes. What if you got into an arguement and they hurt you? Much worse, killed you!"

"Come now Kuro, do they look like the type of people who would kill me over a simple argument?"

Kuro suddenly got quiet, his eyes going hard.

"Humans have killed for much less. Don't forget our past Onii-sama."

Looking straight at Kuroko, twin colored eyes stared back at each other like a mirror.

"_We_ have killed for much less."

**XXXXXXX**

"Come again soon! I'll be waiting~"

The large blob some would call "man", few call "Carl" and society "fatso", clumsily grabbed for his pants and undergarments that laid hazardously scared across the floor. Droplets of sweat beaded down the pudgy whale of a neck still propped up above the collar of his shirt. He managed to pull his pants on before realizing his didn't put on his underwear.

Embarrassed, he struggled to look over himself to find the missing piece of clothing. He wandered around for a few seconds before the girl took pity on the poor man and strolled over to where the piece of clothing in question laid next to the desk in the ground.

"This what you're looking for sugar pie?"

The man turned a deep tomato red that was almost endearing. He quietly thanked her and instead of putting them on, he stuffed them into his pants' pocket. Not even stopping to check the mirror to see if anything was out of place, the fellow exited the room.

The girl sighed. "Well, at least he pays well."

She began to pick up her own scattered pieces of pink and red clothing. Wiping off the evidence of her previous sinful activity with a warm moist towel, she went to the closet and grabbed herself a satin red robe and dumped her soiled clothes down the laundry chute beneath the desk. She did the same to the stained sheets on the bed and replaced them with a clean maroon and dark yellow set.

Wrapping the robe around herself, the candy girl daintily put on her heels and left the room. She removed the heart door decorator and placed it back inside the room. She replaced the heart with a broom ornament, signaling the next janitor or cleaner that the room needed to be made.

Satisfied that she didn't miss anything, the girl walked down the deserted hall and every ally back into the suffocating employees lounge.

She stopped by her make up stand only to find her once full carton of smokes empty. Looking around, she easily snagged a cigarette from one of the working boys who had mistakenly fallen asleep on the communal couches. She caught a light from a random passerby and sashayed over to the balcony where five other people shared the same idea. The slightly cool air mixed in with the sweet smell of smoke and burning herbs was liberating. Away from the sticky perfume gas that some blasphemous idiots would call "air". Everyday it clogged every pore of the palace and some girls and boys fainted from too much powder in their lungs. She refused to fall victim to such stupidity and lack of sense, therefore smoke breaks allowed her to escape to a lesser evil.

After she took a few mouthfuls of the sugary joint being passed around and her own cancer stick, the girl unwound enough to finally let her ears listen in to what seemed to be the new gossip that was spreading like wildfire recently.

"Apparently she hasn't been in for at least a week."

"Some say she _deserted!_"

"Really!?"

"People actually do that?"

"Where could she have gone though? As soon as anyone saw her tattoo, she would've brought back home,"

"Unless…"

"_No_, you don't really think…"

"I mean if she was really desperate, she could've, you know,"

The voices got very quiet and the girl had to subtlety move closer and strain her ears to hear.

"..._gone blank_."

The other occupants of the balconygasped in horror of what was just uttered. The girl herself just snorted quietly to herself. Maybe it was the drugs and nicotine pumping through her system, but the idea of going blank didn't seem like a big taboo all of a sudden. A few times before, she had dared to imagine what her life would be like outside the palace.

A life not tied down to the service of the monarchy of pleasure. A life where she was not restricted to the palace boundaries. A life when someone sees her, they don't spew cat calls and vulgar promises.

"-an't imagine why a dominatrix of all people."

Drawn back to the conversation, the girl once again paid attention to what was being murmured, whispers barely leaving their lips ever since taboo was mentioned.

Unfortunately, nothing more of interest was uttered. A line had been crossed moments earlier, and fear leashes the gossipers back into their place. The girl sighed disappointedly at the lack of interesting material to listen to. Stubbing her cigarette out on a nearby ashtray, she left the balcony and returned to the land of screeching closet hangers and rouge, painted lips.

But this time she was without a greeting from a certain leather-garbed friend.

**XXXXXXX**

Mayuzumi considered himself responsible when the situation calls for such an attitude. For the rest of time, he liked to live as he pleased. Choosing to work at the asylum was more of a whim more than everything. He had been a patient here once upon a time and the curiosity of what it felt like on the other side of the desk had been too tempting to resist.

Of course, it wasn't fun back then to receive "therapy". He didn't really understand the whole "choose your doctor" concept and didn't know what to look for. Hell, he didn't even know what the doctors were going to do to "heal" him.

When he was six, a group of thugs broke into his house when it was just his governess and him in the house. She had hidden him in her room's closet. She has correctly assumed that thieves wouldn't go looking for valuables in servant quarters.

He stilled remembered her soft voice.

"Let's play a game of hide and seek with the men upstairs okay? You will hide and be as quiet as you can and I will go hide somewhere else, okay?"

She had refused when he asked to her hide with him. "That wouldn't be fair and against the rules. Good boys follow the rules, right?"

He had nodded in response.

She had gently stroked his cheek. "You're a very good boy Chihiro. Now remember, no matter what you hear, you must always hide, okay?"

He simply nodded again. She kissed his forehead and quietly closed the closet doors.

Hours passed and soon the ruckus upstairs had finally disappeared. But Mayuzumi still faithfully stayed behind those closet doors. Even after he heard his mother's scream when the of the front door opened after the bad people left, even when the police had started investigating the house. Even when he could hear multiple different voices calling out his name, Mayuzumi stayed hidden in the closet.

He stomach growled and he wetted his pants a while ago. After too long, an officer noticed the stench coming from the closet of the deceased governess. Needless to say, he was surprised to find a sickly child skillfully tucked away in the back corner.

Mayuzumi can't remember what happened after that, but he did remember the relieved sobs of his parents and that his governess never came back.

He saw that vulnerability in the faces of each and every adult or child he ever met that day forth. Some hid it betters than others, but without a doubt everyone shared the same look. When the young man finally realized he wanted to pursue psychology, everything just fell into place. His doctor encouraged his interest in the subject and before he knew it, he managed to get a job as one of the psychologists in charge of the Extremes.

It was there he first met Kuroko.

Mayuzumi could never forget that morning when he actually met the blue haired boy. It was a sunny and warm day in the middle of May-

A knock interrupted the grey haired doctor's stroll through memory lane. He frowned, checking his schedule and confirming his suspicions. No meetings or appointments were scheduled anytime soon. It was lunch, so it probably wasn't one of his patients. Maybe it was a colleague. Either way, he responded with a "come in" and turned back to the light novel in his hands.

A few minutes passed. No one entered.

Looking up, he called out again, thinking maybe the person didn't hear him.

No one entered.

Mayuzumi sighed because it probably was just one of the children playing a prank. He stood and stretched, placing a bookmark in his novel to save the page he was on. He hadn't really moved much and chasing after mischievous children sounded like fun. He was a common contender in tag games with the younger children, despite his power to turn invisible. Rather than think it unfair, the children always encourage him to go invisible to see if they could catch him. (Of course he never does because he doesn't want to break their hearts and also he doesn't want to run around stark naked).

He rubbed his eyes and yawned, trying to shake away his drowsiness before confronting a bunch of noisy, playful rascals. He opened the door and stepped into the quiet hallway.

No one was there.

Smirking, the doctor began to walk towards the end of the hallway and sneakily slid along the wall so that the children wouldn't see him coming from the perpendicular corridor. He silently counted to three in his head before jumping in front of the corridor.

No one was there.

Mayuzumi was silently thankful it was deserted, lest a colleague or a patient have seen him jumping out to scare nothing.

However, as he was about to turn around and go back to his office, something grabbed his attention. It was the faintest whiff of a scent that did not belong anywhere near the institution. Mayuzumi frowned as the pale fragrance of rose petals drifted down from the opposite end of the corridor. Staff and patients alike were not allowed perfume or cologne of any sort for medical reasons and allergies. Whoever was wearing the perfume clearly didn't know that and therefore was likely an outsider.

Wary of the previous attack that happened, Mayuzumi began to back away slowly from the corridor. He spotted one of the asylum telephone cases hung up on the wall. He quietly inched towards the glass box and took out his keys from his coat's pocket. Wincing at the jingle and click as the lock slid open, the doctor carefully lifted the glass case to reach for the telephone.

"Is someone there?"

He froze.

**XXXXXXX**

**7 HOURS EARLIER**

A small body shot to attention, sweat hazardously dripping down the pale skin. Short haggard breaths rattled through the thin frame and exited in painful pants. The lithe body fumbled around in the sheets before finally regaining their bearings. They turned to look down at the peaceful body lying next to them, inaudible snores softly escaping from their companion's mouth.

Sighing quietly, the small body shivered as the cold air touched their moist, sweat slickened body. They silently moved off the bed and grabbed for the canteen lying forgotten by the windowsill. They took deep gulps of the sweet water and moved the curtains slightly so that a sliver of moonlight shone into the dark room.

Pale light illuminated pasty white skin. Light sky blue eyes were emphasized by strikingly prominent dark circles lurking just beneath the tired sockets. Matching teal hair was matted to the scalp, the sweat and grease shining in the mocking moonlight.

The small boy looked straight at the waning moon, nightmares still hauntingly fresh in his mind.

"...something is very wrong. He's in danger," he spoke no louder than a whisper, yet the words weighed heavier than any brick.

Tired eyes glistened with unshed tears. "But he won't listen to me. He won't let me protect him."

Sighing once again, the boy rested his head in his arms, looking away from the moonlight.

"I hate dreaming…"

**XXXXXXX**

_We were birthed closer than brothers, yet are more than friends. _

**Yello, BrokenWings66 here. I really don't have an excuse aside from writer's block for the first half which took me a few months, but surprisingly I managed to write the second half of this chapter in a few days whenever I had spare time. So yay(?Im sorry, please don't kill me)**

**Also, I know there are a few people who are concerned about me discontinuing this story due to my horrible, inexcusable and downright atrocious updating schedule (if it can even be called a schedule). I just want to assure you guys that no matter how long it take, I WILL FINISH THIS STORY MWAHAHAHAHAHA!No really, this story is my baby that i came up with that actually was a legit story line once i passed through my Mary Sue stage of thinking (such dark and self-centered times). So rest assured, I will never drop this story. I already am started a couple hundred words down with the next chapter, so I will definitely not take as long for my next update.****  
**

**Until then, ciao~**

**-BrokenWings66**

**Thai Translation: **

**?id=1370749 **


	10. Chapter 9

Mayuzumi slowly turned around and forced the bubbles of fear beginning to tickle the pit of his stomach. He purposely shattered the fearful ice crawling up his limbs and forced himself to look at the intruder.

Simply said, it definitely wasn't what he was expecting.

Smoky eyes and rouge lips were what he first noticed. Then his eyes travelled down and noticed the barely concealed torso dressed in a maroon leather corset. Full, perky breasts were on blatant display to whoever passed by. A black thong and spiked black garter belts were visible through a transparent piece of fabric lazily tied around her hips as if it was there for a formality rather than any actual use. Tall, black heeled combat boots rose all the way to her knees and a scarlet red whip wrapped skillfully around her waist completed the look.

Immediately Mayuzumi's eyes widened as his brain took a few moments too long to process what he was seeing. Turning beet red, he snapped his eyes straight to the floor. His ears were burning for and his brain sputtered around in the pseudo tsunami of confusion, embarrassment and slight shame.

The woman in the other hand seemed nonchalant of her outfit. Instead her voice seemed desperate for a different reason.

"Oh thank goodness, a person! Can you please tell me wher-"

A blank look passed over the strange woman's features. The confusion and terror that once was present in her eyes disappeared. Now, a barely concealed veil of suspicion and an unknown emotion laid hidden behind false lashes.

Concerned, Mayuzumi lifted his eyes from the floor and used all of his willpower to keep focus just on her face. He dared to step slightly closer.

"Excuse me miss, but do you know where you are?"

She didn't supply a response. Her eyes raked over his figure, as if looking for something.

"Miss? Do you remember where you're from?"

A frown decorated her face.

Mayuzumi took another step closer, eye wary on the whip.

"Miss? I cannot help you if you do not ans-"

"Would you, perchance, be wearing any red on you?"

"What?" Surprised by the sudden question, Mayuzumi stepped back instinctively. He was confused by the sudden change in her voice. Only a few moments earlier she was near hysterics, scared by what Mayuzumi assumed was the unfamiliar setting. Now, steeled constants were formed around icy vowels, spilling deceptively smooth from her plump lips.

The doctor noted the change in her voice and calmly shifted, all the slightly, into a more defensive position. He's been in too many similar situations to not be cautious.

"No, as of this moment, I am not wearing any red,"

Her voice was becoming more and more distant with every word that left her mouth.

"Any pinks? Sunset Orange?"

Mayuzumi began to step back slowly. He wanted to close the telephone case and relock it, but was afraid the sudden movement would startle the woman. He was aware of the despondency creeping into the crevices of her face. With each question she was slowly becoming more robotic.

"No, may I inquire why you ask?"

Her voice was practically monotone, face impassive and expressionless.

"By the Almighty decree and wishes of the Red Queen, in accordance with the Third Law of the Red Palace, Article Two, Line Eight in the Establishment of Staffing Regulations and Responsibilities, I am entitled to act. All those who bear not the color of the sovereign are to be immediately removed from the premises, or if deemed fixable, given time to correct the error and don the color."

All of a sudden, the scantily clad woman before him morphed into a terrifying creature. Pupils turned slate red and the whites of her eyes turned neon green, the sickening sound of bones breaking and reforming crackled through the air as her limbs grew longer and thinner. She lowered down to all fours, her torso stretching out into a unproportioned stick and her waist dwindling down to the width of rope. Cheekbones jutted out dangerously as her face slowly elongated, jaw unhinging to a terrifying constantly open state and nose being reduced to nothing but two open slits. She appeared more spider than anything else, but even a tarantula couldn't compare to how utterly ghastly and horrifying the creature she had turn into appeared.

"Shall I f-fix yo-ou?"

**XXXXXXX**

A dull throb echoed in the back of Kuroko skull, the constantly screaming in the cafeteria not helping. The blunette picked at the already small amount of food sitting on his plate. He was hungry, sure, but the slight queasiness accompanying the headache made him hesitate on consuming anything.

"Are you not hungry?"

Kuroko looked into the heterochromatic eyes of Akashi, unconsciously sitting up straighter. He looked down at the redhead's plate along with everyone else's to find they were almost finished, much unlike his own.

"It appears not,"

Akashi frowned slightly. "Appetite or not, you should still eat Tetsuya. You're still recovering and by not eating, it will only prolong the healing process," His eyes softened. "Would you like me to go to the cook to get you something else?"

Eyes whipping up, Kuroko stared at the other for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No Sei, I'm just not hungry. It's not the food. I'll eat something later,"

"Is your stomach unwell?"

Kuroko sighed. "No, I really am just not hungry." The throbbing increased a notch as soon as the lie left his lips, but thankfully the churning in his stomach had died down.

"Are you certain?"

"Quite."

"Then I shall bring you something to eat later,"

Kuroko's eyes widened a fraction. "That isn't necessary Seijuurou. I can get it myself later on easily,"

"It wasn't up for discussion Tetsuya,"

Said male pouted, if only slightly. Akashi found the action endearing.

"I don't want to be a burden..."

Kuroko didn't mean for anyone else to hear that, hoping the surrounding noise would drown out his muttering.

Of course it didn't.

Akashi sneakily wove a hand around Kuroko's waist and suddenly pulled him closer. The surprised squeak emitted from Tetsuya's lips made the redhead's own pair quirk up.

"With the amount of food you eat, me carrying a meal to you would be anything but a burden love," The redhead removed his arm from around the blunette. Instead he chose to interlace their fingers beneath the tables. "I never want you to think that, understood? You will never be a burden, and those who think so clearly don't deserve to exist."

Kuroko huffed, but the rosiness of his cheeks along with the smile fighting its way onto his face spoke more than his actions.

"That's rather extreme Seijuurou. Everyone is entitled to their opinions,"

Akashi simply hummed. "Well then, their opinion is flawed. After all," He brought their enclosed hands closer to his lap, forcing Kuroko to unintentionally lean towards the smirking redhead. "Akashis are always right,"

Kuroko resisted the urge to roll his eyes and forced his cheeks to settle, slowly changing back into their usual paleness.

Kise cooed from across the table, having watched the whole exchange.

"I never thought I'd say this to Akashicchi, but you two are such a cute couple!"

Momoi decided to join the squealing blonde. "When do you two finally start going out? Has it been hush hush for a while or did you guys just get together?" The pinkette pouted and crossed her arms, laying her head down onto the shoulder of Kise who was seated to her right. "I didn't even know about it before hand!"

"I mean, everyone had their suspicions," continued Kise. "But we just, you know, never actually thought it was a thing,"

Momoi shot her hand up. "I just wanted to say that I've supported it since the beginning! I noticed it first; therefore I get credit for this!"

Kise freed his shoulder from underneath her head, looking at her with horror. "Now wait a minute, I was the one who pointed it out to you in the first place all those years ago!"

"I already knew then, you just confirmed that I wasn't delusional,"

"How do I know you're not lying!? And I knew before too you know! It just took me a while to finally say it to someone else,"

"Wait, Kuroko is dating Akashi!?"

Everyone looked at Kagami.

Kise just stared at him in disbelief. "Did you seriously not know that?"

Kagami awkwardly scratched his head. "Was I supposed to?"

"No, seriously," this time it was Aomine who butted in. "We're you not paying attention when we were in the infirmary? Even I would've realized if I didn't know before,"

Kagami sputtered. "I thought they were really good friends! You can't blame me, this is-" he lowered his voice, "this is _Akashi_ we're talking about here."

"That's rather rude if you Kagami-kun," The said male tensed at the sound of Akashi's voice. "I do believe I am rather pleasant on the eyes-"

"Not on the soul," muttered Aomine.

"-and it should be perfectly possible for me to have a partner. Now that's not saying I would just choose anyone, isn't that right Tetsuya,"

Lifting an eyebrow, Kuroko sent a blank to Akashi. "Now why would you ask me?"

Akashi smiled slightly. "You seem to be the appropriate person to ask,"

"I'd prefer to stay out of this conversation,"

"Buuuut Kurokocchi, you're vital in order to have proper gossip! There's no one better than you for the juicy details! Well maybe Kurocchi." Turning his head around a few times, Kise frowned. "Speaking of which, where is Kurocchi?"

Kuroko was silently thankful for the topic change. "He wanted to go lie down for a little, so he's back in our room."

"Is he okay?"

Kuroko nodded. "Yes, just tired."

"Young infants and toddlers are highly recommended to have frequent naps due to the high energy demands of early growth spurts," piped in Midorima.

Kise hummed, not having really paid attention to what was being said.

"He's your younger second cousin you said?"

Kuroko tilted his head to the side, confused. "Yes, why do you ask?"

Kise waved his hands frantically in front of him once he noticed the look Akashi shot at him. "I don't mean anything by it! I was just curious if you knew why he was here!" The blonde then realized how insensitively he was asking. "No, shoot, I didn't mean to be that forward. I mean if you don't want to tell, I completely understand, you don-"

"I don't know."

"-t have to for-, wait what?"

Kuroko shrugged. "I don't know why specifically he is here. I have a pretty good idea why, but even I am not sure why he stays here,"

It's better to tell a distorted truth rather than a complete lie, isn't it? True, Kuroko did know the base reason of why Kuro was here. But what he didn't know was why Kuro was staying. Yes, he took into account of the fact he was injured and they still had the unknown object that got tossed into a portal; however none of these would be reason enough for Kuro to stay out in the open and allow strangers to see and interact with him. There was a larger reason for Kuro being so insistent of staying with Kuroko, the latter just didn't know yet.

But that didn't mean he didn't have his suspicions.

The throbbing began to pulse insistently against his skull.

"It's not something he talks about and I don't want to push him." Kuroko's eyes softened. "He's still so innocent…"

Kise scoffed. "He might've been innocent. But that beloved purity has unfortunately left us, no thanks to a _certain aho_."

Momoi giggled quietly to herself as Aomine tensed in his seat.

"It was an accident okay, sheesh, I said I was sorry. He was going to find out one way or another,"

Despite the coolness and hardness of Aomine's words, the small beads of sweat beginning to drip from his brow and flittering eyes spoke the opposite. While an angry Kise wasn't as terrifying as an angry Akashi, he came close.

Akashi was more of a silent anger type, probably the most frightening in Aomine's opinion. Kise was the opposite. He, more like Aomine, had loud and explosive anger that would push him to pass limits of standard civilized people. Kise had a nifty gift, something that probably developed naturally, even before the blonde got his power. He could analyze anyone to the smallest emotional thread. Kise claimed he was a model and celebrity of sorts before coming to the institution, and the knack only grew in potential as he reflected what he saw his fans wanting him to do. It could've been classified as a power in itself, and some doctors did consider it as part of his main power. After all, the abilities to copy someone's emotions and their appearance truly worked hand in hand.

Kuroko smiled softly to himself as the two idiots began to fight (again). As expected, Kagami was dragged into the battle, and like that, the Three Stooges had assembled. Himuro shared Tetsuya's intention of watching the fight, a soft affection obvious in the ravenette's eyes. Obvious to Murasakibara as well because for the next three minutes Himuro had to continuously convince the giant not to throw his cupcakes that the Three Stooges just because they were being too loud.

With only an increasingly painful headache, Kuroko figured it wouldn't hurt to try to eat a little. At first he was worried the headache was a result of something happening to the wound in his head, but the uneasiness still settling in his stomach and uncoordinated bouts of pain said otherwise.

He reached for his fork that laid adjacent to his plate, but stiffened as a distinctive sharp pierced and thrusted through his brain. He immediately closed his eyes and grimaced as subtly as he could. He noticed his hand was still suspended above his fork and quickly moved it back to his side. Blinking furiously, Kuroko hoped the pain would subside.

The chattering of the cafeteria and the yells of Aomine, Kise and Kagami slowly faded in a quiet background buzz. A pulsing drum pounded incessantly in Kuroko's ears and he couldn't help but wince as each beat of the drum sent a severe wave of pain clenching throughout his skull. It was as if somebody was slamming against the side of his skull like a door, begging to get out.

Much to Kuroko's chagrin, the pulsing and pounding only increased the more he waited.

"-ay? Kurokocchi?"

The faint voice of Kise floated through the haze of pain and Kuroko forced himself to focus back to the present. It took a while, but soon the cacophony of the cafeteria became louder and louder, like someone turning up a dial, and when Kuroko opened his eyes (which he didn't realize he had closed), he was back at the table surrounded by familiar faces.

"Kurokocchi?"

Kuroko weakly blinked and looked up to face the blonde.

"I'm sorry," the soft whisper was almost lost in the surrounding conversation, but definitely caught the attention of Kise and Akashi. "I seemed to have spaced out for a moment, do you mind repeating that Kise-kun?"

The said male looked worriedly at the pale blunette. The faintest undertone of pain audible in his voice was contrasting to the blank poker face Kuroko usually donned.

"I asked if you wear okay, you were wincing slightly earlier,"

"I'm fi-" Kuroko's response was abruptly cut off as the throbbing and hodgepodge occurring in his head suddenly doubled in intensity. He immediately recoiled into himself, bringing his head down into his arms as his hands tried uselessly to massage his temples.

"Tetsuya!"

"Kurokocchi!"

"Onii-sama!"

Kuroko lifted his eyes up the slightest fraction at the sound of Kuro's frantic voice. Through his restricted vision, the blunette made out a small body running towards him.

A pair of short slim arms gently wrapped themselves around Kuroko, a soft voice gently whispering reassurances. Beat by beat, the drum quieted down until is was nothing more than a soft patter.

"Onii-sama,"

Kuroko took a few feels breaths before looking up into their gent eyes of Kuro.

"S-Something," he managed to croak out before clearing his throat. Kuro quickly picked up his cup of water and tenderly handed it to the other. "Something has passed through, hasn't it?"

Kuro only nodded.

"Did you let anything through?"

Kuro shook his head. "No Onii-sama, that's why I came to see you. I hoped you had,"

The gravity of the situation suddenly hit Kuroko. An unknown object (or worse, creature) had managed to cross portals and come into the Default Realm. The likelihood of a patient or staff encountering it was too high for comfort. What if they got hurt? What if the object or creature let out too much information about the other realms!?

"Onii-sama,"

Snapping out of the reverie, Kuroko looked at Kuro and they both shared the same thought.

They needed to destroy whatever has passed over.

And find out _how_ it passed over.

**XXXXXXX**

"Please, she's missing, you have to at least put up a poster or write a file, right?"

The chubby man sitting behind the glass panel sighed, his cheeks and nose rosy from the drunken high he was still on.

*"Lookie here missus. Yer friiiend has provaply either gun onna out of palace call, oooooooor jus' haven't said "yello" to ya yet. Ya don't hafta to scream saying she be missin'. Ya got nun proof!"

"But-"

**"Besiiiiiiiiides," the portly man took another or whatever poison swished around in his dirty tin flask. "Tis not unusual forra whore ta disappear for an undefined amount of time. They alllways come back, one way or another. This," he pointed a stubby finger at the base of his neck. " makes sure of it,"

The girl unconsciously used her hand to cup around the base of her own neck, where the invisible brand laid. Every new employee in the Red Palace was always given a tattoo or brand as proof of their employment and loyalty to the Queen. She still remember the day she was branded with the logo of rose vines curled around a large letter "R". Yes, it was painful, but after a day, the brand disappeared, along with the lingering throbs.

But one of the main reason all the whores and sexual workers of the Red Palace were branded was so they couldn't run away. The minute they tried to leave without permission, their brand would begin to tingle and the further they went, the more the brand would sizzle until it reappeared in all its burning glory. Not too long after, the palace guards, the Cards, would come to pick up the runner and she or he would be put on trial.

Almost always someone lost their head.

***"Ther hasn't been a reportin with th' Cardies, so she haven't gun far. How 'boot you look 'round more befor ya come squabbling at meh, okay Candy gal?"

"But I _have _looked! I went through every nook and cranny, squeezed through every crevice and niche in this whole palace! She isn't _anywhere!_ And she has customers with appointments planned already! Why would a dominatrix make appointments if she planned to run away or disappear to _somewhere_ in this whole godamn palace that I haven't already checked!?"

The man rolled his eyes and sharply slammed the small mouth hole of the glass box he sat in.

"Hey! This is your job! You're supposed to help-"

The shutters clattered as the man shoved them down and flipped the "open" sign to "closed".

Huffing in exasperation, the girl walked around in angry circles before a mischievous gleam sparkled in her eyes. She looked inside the small clutch she brought with her. Turning the contents over a few times, she pulled a deep red lipstick out from the small purse. She smirked as she uncapped it, letting it weave and painted the glass box in front of her. Vulgar word after another slowly covered the box, along with the occasional secret and dirt she already knew about the man inside the box.

She also pulled out a tiny bottle of pepper spray disguised as a vial of perfume. Quietly she cleared her throat a few times before gently knocking on the glass.

"We're closed!"

Forcing her voice up an octave, she purposely donned her service mindset and let the sickly sweet words flow out effortlessly.

"Oh, golly, that's too bad. I was going g to ask if anyone had seen, say, _a stolen pair of lingerie_,"

It was an old trick and painfully obvious, but when you worked as the lost and found attendant in a pleasure palace, you run into all sorts of situations. While the girl and the drunken man were arguing she could tell he was vilely looking her up and down, perversely focusing on her womanly _assets_.

"Sorry missy, but we're closed,"

She wanted to snicker at the waver in his voice. "Aaaaaw. Rat patooie, that's too bad. I didn't even get to stop back at the lounge for another pair. I came down the moment I couldn't find them. I wore them for a client earlier and when I was cleaning up, I just couldn't find them. Thank goodness there aren't a lot of people at this hour, right? Imagine all those who would try to sneak _a peek_ at my precious flower and breasts."

"T-that's q-quite fortunate,"

"Are you certain you haven't gotten anything with it?"

"I'll check for ya missy. J-jus' wait a moment,"

"Okay~"

Waiting a couple of seconds, she intentionally dropped the empty lipstick near the glass.

"Oops. I dropped it,"

She waited.

No sound.

She continued.

"Aw, darn, where it could it have gone? Maybe if I go on my knees I will find it faster…"

She hovered around the covered mouth hole and moved her foot around a few times to make it sound like she really was searching. Sure enough, a few seconds later, the cover quietly was slid away and curious eyes looked around for the erotic view.

Instead, he got an eyeful of pepper spray.

The girl cackled and threw the lipstick away in a nearby trash can, leaving the screeching man behind her. She put the pepper spray back into her clutch and sauntered back towards the lounge. Adjusting her pink, five inches too short dress and reapplying a layer of glossy cotton candy lip gloss, the candy girl couldn't help but worry even more.

"Where are you Elaina?"

**XXXXXXX**

"Tetsuya! Where are you going!?"

Kuroko resisted the urge to stop running and explain the situation to the red head that was chasing after him. Kuro glanced behind them and narrowed his eyes when he saw Akashi easily catching up. The small boy was tempted to somehow deter the pursuing male, but alas, Kuro made a promise to Kuroko not to hurt his friends and lover.

About to voice his concern, Kuro didn't have time as Kuroko suddenly wasn't running beside him anymore. He skidded to a halt and whipped around, snarling at the scene before him.

"Tell me, what's wrong!"

Akashi was holding Kuroko by the wrist, a visibly tight grip preventing the latter from any chance of escape. Kuro's eyes zeroed in on the vice like grip of Akashi, waiting.

Waiting for him to slip.

Waiting for him to take it one step too far.

Waiting for an excuse for Kuro to cut him down.

Kuroko, shocked, was about to pull away when he _felt _the animosity seeping from Kuro's body. He spared a glance to the smaller's direction and frowned when he saw bared teeth and poised hands.

He was waiting for an opportunity to strike.

He traced Kuro's eyes and found them focused on the pale white hand of Akashi dangerously gripping his wrist. Immediately he stepped closer to the redhead and focused solely on him. Kuro was viewing Akashi as a threat and unless Kuroko explained and got Akashi to let him go by his own will, the likelihood of Kuro stepping was too high to risk it.

"Seijuurou," he murmured, eyes slowly looking up to gaze at the questioning red and gold pair staring down at him. "Please, I promise to explain everything to you later, but there is something I urgently need to be. Please, let me go."

Akashi frowned. "No, not until you tell me what is going on right now,"

A loud snarl was heard and both Kuroko and Akashi looked up to see Kuro glaring at them, his body slowly heading into all fours, like a wild beast barely being contained.

Akashi narrows his eyes in response. "Tetsuya, what is happenin-"

Kuroko used almost all his strength to forcible turn him and Akashi around so that the latter couldn't see Kuro.

"Something very bad is about to happen Seijuurou, a danger no one but Kuro and I know how to deal with. If we leave it be, something will go terribly wrong, or worse, someone will undoubtedly die. I need to go _now._"

"But your headache, the _pain-"_

"It's all part of my power!"

Akashi almost took a step back, surprised by the sudden yelling.

"It's part of my power, and if I don't do anything, _everything_ will be on my hands! I don't want-"

Kuroko sighed, suddenly tired. "I don't want to be the reason someone gets hurt," it was silent a few moments, only the sound of Kuro's impatient and unpleasant growling in the background.

"Very well,"

Kuroko have the other a relieved smile.

"But only if I come with you,"

Kuro released a cry in protest but Kuroko ignored him.

"Okay Seijuurou, but you must promise me that not matter what happens, you will do as I ask."

Akashi tensed, the condition not sitting well with him. It might've been just him but the faintest sound of snickering was heard from the beast waiting behind the two of them. Kuroko noticed this and softened, raising his free hand to gently cup Akashi's cheek.

"I need to trust that you will follow this promise just as much as I need you to trust in me."

Raising himself up to his tippy toes, Kuroko leaned forward, his breath just barely fanning against the shell of Akashi's ear.

"Do you trust me Seijuurou?"

Said male stiffened at the pleasurable sensation, his mind temporarily forgetting his worries and unconsciously began to relax. He snapped back to reality and released a strained sigh.

"I do."

Kuroko plopped back onto his feet and smile gently at Akashi. He pecked the other's lips softly before stepping back and walking back to Kuro.

"Let's go,"

Akashi nodded, noting how serious Kuroko's face had become.

Kuro, obviously, wasn't happy with this arrangement and was about to complain when Kuroko quickly sent him a look.

Shivering and standing up straight immediately, Kuro shot Akashi a dirty glare before taking the lead once again, leading the two to where the disturbance laid.

Kuroko was panting slightly, his stamina almost completely drained despite the pathetic amount of time and distance he's actually run. Akashi smirked and without a second thought, picked up the huffing blunette bridal style with ease.

"We wouldn't want you fainting before getting there, would we love?"

Kuroko freely blushed and simply wrapped his arms around Akashi's neck, hiding his red face.

Quietly the blunette prayed that they would make it in time, the dread menacingly lurking in the pit of his stomach.

He hoped they weren't too late..

**XXXXXXX**

_I bear the sins he wishes to forget._

* * *

*Look here miss, your friend has probably either gone on an out-of-palace call or just hasn't said "hello" to you yet. You don't have to scream she's been missing. You have no proof!

**Besides, it's not unusual for a whore to disappear for an undefined amount of time. They always come back, one way or another. This makes sure of it,

***There hasn't been any reports from the Cards, so she hasn't gone far. How about you go look around one more time before you come squabbling to me, okay Candy girl?

* * *

**Haha! I managed to update at a decent time! I promise the next chapter should be on a similar schedule, especially since I kinda left you guys on a cliff-hanger in this one!**

**Also, I'm excited to say that there is a French translation of this story in the making, by the wonderful SoraShizukeza! There's no set date of when it will be released, but I will put the link when it's ready in my stories. Just a heads up, since putting in links is all kinds of funky on here, I would recommend to go to where I cross posted this fic on AO3 under the username Brilliantly_Dull. There's an easier link where you can just click it for the currently available Thai translation!**

**Also, in case some of you guys read my fic on AO3 as well, you'll notice my author notes are different, and thats because I always upload on AO3 after I've uploaded the fic here on . So, sometimes I will write a lot more stuff and I just wanted to say I love both sites so much and am so appreciative to the wonderful readers of both sites!I put a whole blurb about that in my last update in Chapter 8 on AO3 and then realized I didn't put it on the . Editing chapters is kind of a hassle on this site , so I'll just copy what I said there:**

**Sorry for the long author's note, love you all so much. When u comment, it motivates me and makes me unbelievably happy that someone enjoys my reading! I may not respond to all of ur comments but know I read every single one of them and couldn't be any more thankful that you took the time to read my shitty ass story. (Also shout out to all the silent readers, I love you all too)**

**I somehow always end up writing long ass Author notes, I'm sorry, sometimes I just rant. **

**See y'alls in the next one~**

**-BrokenWings66**


End file.
